LETTERS 

FROM 

EGYPT AND SYRIA, 



WILLIAM ARNOLD BROMFIELD, 

M.D., F.L.S., &C. 




PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY. 



LONDON. 

MDCCOLVI. 



London : William PampLik, 45, Frith Street, Sonc 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The letters which compose this volume, are the 
unstudied communications of a Brother to a Sister — 
written for no other eye than hers, and printed solely 
with the hope of affording gratification to those by 
whom the character and talents of the lamented 
writer were well known. 

There are some among his friends, more devoted 
to antiquarian pursuits than himself, who may not 
concur in many opinions which he has expressed 
concerning Egyptian antiquities ; but these, being his 
own convictions, which he was too candid to conceal, 
can be perused only with kind and generous feelings. 

The letters, written amidst the inconveniences 
and hindrances of Eastern travel, contain, with a few 
notes appended to them, all that remains of the 
writer's descriptions of his journeyings in Egypt, 
Nubia, and Palestine, until within a few days of his 
arrival at Damascus, w T here it pleased God that they 
should terminate with his life. 



) 



PRINCIPAL CONTENTS OF THE LETTERS. 



LETTER I. page. 

Yoyage to Gibraltar ....... 1 — 3 

The Rock and Town 4—5 

Malta — the Lazaretto 8 — 13 

Harbour of Alexandria 14 — 15 

LETTER n. 

Alexandria — scenes and sounds in — Nile water cisterns 17 — 18 

The Date palm , . . 19 

The City— its dilapidations and dogs . . . 20 — 21 

Pompey's Pillar 22 

The English Church 23 

Local Mortality — its causes ..... 25 

LETTER III. 

Passage from Alexandria to Cairo .... 27 

Mahmoudieh Canal 27—28 

Landing a Passenger 28 

Khereddin Pasha 29—30 

Population and sombre scenery of Delta . . , 30 — 32 

Cairo — Shepherd's British Hotel .... 33 

The running footmen, I. Kings, 18 — 46 ... 38 

The donkey and camel — the streets .... 36 — 39 

LETTER IY. 

Route from Cairo to the Pyramids of Ghizeh . . 40 — 43 

Site and structure of the Pyramids . . , ... 44 — 47 

Perpendicular appearance of on a near view . . 47 

Ascent of Cheops ....... 48 

Yiew of the Nile valley from Cheops .... 49 

Arab race upon the Pyramids t 50 

Interior and passages in Cheops 51 — 53 

Cephrenes and its court 54 

Belzoni and Yyse Pyramids ..... 55 

Importunity of Arab guides ..... 53 — 54 

The Sphinx ........ 55—56 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



LETTER Y. page. 

Cairo — Preparations for voyage up the Nile . . 57 

Valuable Library of the Egyptian Society ... 58 

Visit to mosques 58 

Christians of both sexes admitted .... 59 

Note of Lithograph of the Great Pyramid ... 60 

LETTER VI. 

On the Nile — the boat and crew 61 

The Barrage 62—63 

Rhoda— the locality of Exodus, 2. 1—9. ... 64 

Villagers and dovecotes 65 — 66 

The British in Egypt 66 

Accident to Mr. Lakes 67 — 68 

Plague of flies, &c 68 

LETTER VH. 

Winter frost and ice at Rhodah, latitude 28° . . 70 

Sugar factories at Minieh 70 — 71 

Seven days forced labour . . . . . . 71 

Modern Egypt according to prophecy ... 71 

Steam engines, &c. on the Nile 71 

Manfalout — an Egyptian boy 73 

Arnout soldiery 74 

Ameen and his brother ...... 75 

Limestone barrier of the Nile valley . . ... 75 

Jackalls, and vegetation of valley .... 76 

Universal brown hue of Egypt 77 — 78 

Siout — manufacture of pipe bowls at ... 79 

Sepulchral excavations on western cliffs ... 79 

Visit to the Siout Bazaars ...... 80 

LETTER VIII. 
Ekhmein, December 12th. Coldness and force of the north 

wind 81 — 82 

The darrabatakako 81 

Girgeh . . . ...... 83 

Antique coins, &c. on sale 84 

The Doum palm, first seen . . . . . 85 

Scenery of Nile valley . . . . . . 86 

Crocodiles seen . . . . . . . 87 — 88 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



LETTER, IX. page. 

Kenneh 89 

Scarcity of plants in seed — 

Berber songs to the dram 90 

LETTER X. 

Kenneh — scenery of the Nile 91 

Guinea — corn harvest — 

Products of the valley ........ 92 

Manufacture and rafts of Gullahs .... 93 

Date groves 94 

Temple of Dendereh 95 

Economical arrangements of Nile boat . . . 96 — 97 

Luxor — coldness of the night and dawn ... 98 

LETTER XI. 

Luxor — its obelisk, hovels and colossi . . . 99 — 100 

Dendereh and Luxor compared ..... 100 

Rude and primitive character of buildings at Karnak . 102 

Enthusiasm in description equals untruth . . . 103 
Critique on popular views of the zoology and vegetation 

of the Nile 104—105 

LETTER XII. 

Tropic passed at Kalabshee , 106 

Native love of country 107 

Products of the land of Cush : Khenna, &c. . . 108 — 109 

Characteristics of local population .... 109 

Eirst cataract 110 

Notes on drying plants — 

Contrast between cultivated and native plants . . Ill 

Subtropical or midland European flora . . . Ill — 112 

Birds and insects mostly akin to British ... 112 

Coldness of morning and evening, and its cause . . 114 — 115 

Desert views from the boat 114 

Remarkable proof of atmospheric dryness . . . 115 

Korosko — the depot of caravans for Cairo . . — 

LETTER XIII. 

Caravan journey from Wady Half eh . . . . 117 

Low morning temperature of the desert ... — 

Effects of scorpion sting 117 — 118 



X. 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



PAGE. 

Colossal statues — Isle of Argo 118 

A soft fall after a hard ride 119 

Camel riding — its advantages , . . . . 120 

Napata, the city of Candace, Acts viii. 27 . . 121 

Pyramids of Neuri and their porches ... . 122 

Nights under the open sky 123 

Table of temperature at noon 124 

Metummeh ......... — 

Khartoun — welcome at 125 

Christian temple — ruins at Gebel al Gazal ... 126 

Sketch of the birds of Soudan 127 

Plants of ditto ........ — 

Effects of camel-riding on linen . '. . . . 128 

LETTER XIV. 

Reflections on the poverty of the Nubian peasantry . 129 

Security of property 130 

Hippopotami seen above Berber .... 131 

The crocodile more fearful than formidable . . . 132 

LETTER XV. 

Return voyage to Cairo ...... 133 

Passage from Khartoun to Berber „ 134 

Pyramids of Meroe . . . . . . . 135 

Illness of Mr. Lakes 133_5_6 

Arab doctor's treatment of him .... 137 

His death and interment 138 — 9 

Friendly aid of Coptic christians, &c. . . . 139 

Merchant adventurers a degraded class ... 140 

Respectability of British residents . . . . 140 

Private society at Khartoun ..... — 

Turkish morality 141 

Comfortless death of Mr. M. on the desert . . 142 
Privations and desolation on the desert . . . 143 — 144 

Reservoir of rain water ] 45 

Description and comfort of the zemmzemeer . . 145 

Scanty and inferior supply of food .... 146 

LETTER XVI. 

Descent of the first cataract ..... 149 

Ruins of Komoomba — Philoe 150 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



PAGE. 

The British flag a sanctuary for conscripts . . . 151 

Plans for the torn* in Syria , — 

LETTER XVII. 

Temperature in north wind and upon water . . 153 

Sand storms and their causes 154 

Zobah or Sand pillar — 

Occasional storms of rain — 

Display of meteors ....... — 

Factory chimneys and obelisks . ... . . 155 

The Galliode 156 

Ruins of Medinet Habou 156—7 

The Memnonium 157 

The vocal Memnon 158 

Tombs in Theban mountains 159 

Critique on Egyptian architecture and painting . . 160 

Sober estimate of the latter . . . . . 161 — 3 

Historical value of the tombs 163 

Inscriptions of visitors — 

Prospect from Theban mountains .... 164 

Grottoes of Assaseef — 

Karnak by moonlight . , . . . . 165 — 6 

Second visit to Dendereh . . . . . . 167 

Salutary effects of radiation of heat by night . . 168 

Progressive temperature from sunrise to sunrise . . 169 

ElBahr . 170 

Prevailing dulness of sky and land .... 171 — 2 
LETTER XYIII. 

Erequency of eye disease 173 

Desert Arabs free from it 173 — 174 

Deficient supply of animal food 175 — 8 

Cattle of Nubia and Egypt 176 

The water Buffaloe — 

Endurance of heat by cattle 177 

Compulsion of donkeys to drink .... — 

Emits of Lower Egypt , . . . . . 179 

Sy com ore a doubtful native 180 

Eulfilment of Isaiah xix. 6. 7 181 

Scarcity of aquatic plants in Egypt .... — 

Awful evidence of the spoilers of Egypt . . . 182 



xii. 


CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 




LETTER XIX. 


PAGE. 




Ingratitude of Arab and Berber races 


183 




Improvements in Cairo ..... 


184 




Moslem respect for Protestant consistency 






LETTER XX. 






Journey from Cairo to Suez ..... 


185 




Tomb of Malek Adel 


— 




Station bouses 


186—7 




Solitary tree 


187 




Desert plants . . . . 


— 




Peculiar donkey shoe 


188 




' Loss of one, without means of supply 


— . 




Night rencontres with camels 


189 




Wayside skeletons of ditto 


190 




Refreshing influence of north wind by day . 


— 




Mirage, and real blue line of Red Sea 


191 




Suez, a night on board the Akbar .... 


192—3 




Considerations upon Israel's passage of Red Sea 


193—4 




Tradition and modern opinion — Klysma . . 


195 




Saline deposits on soil around Suez 


196 




Return journey to Cairo 


197 




Deception of a sick child — mirage .... 


— 




Excursion to Toorah Quarries 


197 




Fickleness and distrustfulness of Arabs : 


197—8 




Resulting from the uncertain value and great variety of 






Arab currency .0 


198—9 




Pacts on scarcity of money 


200—1 




Hatching-ovens . . . . 


201 




Memphis and its debris . ... 


202 




JL y I clIlllU.0 yji. kJClL/Ldi Oil •••••• 


909 




Their structure 


203 




Ibis mummy pits, 


204 




Palse pyramid in Upper Egypt 


204 




Yisit to Nilometer at Rhoda 


205 




LETTER XXI. 






Excursion to On 


205 




Scenery around Cairo . . . . ' . 


206 




Tombs of Mamaluke Kings 





CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 


Xlll. 




PAGE. 




Palaces ol Abbas Pasha ...... 


907 




Forced labour oil his works ..... 






Blindness and squinting prevalent .... 






Temperature of the season . 








209 




Desert border the site of ancient cities 


209 




Popular contempt of the Pharoahs . . . . 


209—10 




Identity of Balsam of Mecca and Storax 


210 




Sycomore of holy family at Matereeh .... 


210—1] 




Garden at Shoobra, and mode of irrigation . 


211 




Egyptian fruits, trees, and shrubs ; Khenna leaves, use of 212 — 13 




Fruits — deficient cultivation of 


214—15 




Apricots, Mishmush, &c 


215—16 




Yariable breadth of cultivation on the banks of the Nile 


216—17 






217 




Rigid abstinence of Arabs during Ramadan 


— 




Serpent charms witnessed and vindicated 


217—20 




Singular charm against a serpent's bite 


221 




LETTER XXII. 






Voyage to the Mediterranean . 


221—2 




Ramadan, the traveller's woe ..... 


OOO 9 >7 
ll& o — / 




Scenery between Cairo and Damietta . . . 


223 












224 




Yiolent overthrow of Egyptian monuments . 








224—5 






225 






225—8 




Miserable lodging there ...... 


226—7 




Yisit to Lake Menzaleh 


228-9 




Accident, and barber surgeon 


229—230 




Causes of lakes of Delta 


231 




Pield and ruins of Zoan 


232—3 






235 




Ineffectual search for Papyrus 






LETTER XXIII. 






The Bougaz 22 


6—8—243 




ElEsbeh .. . .. ..... . . 


239—240 





xiv. 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



PAGE. 

Scanty flora of rice marshes 241 

The brighter side of hardship 241 — 242 

Former cultivation of inundated lands .... 242 

Lodgings among rice bags 243 

The Bougaz passed 244 

Retrospect of Egyptian travel 244 — 5 

Yoyage to Jaffa — Hungarian refugee .... 245 

LETTER XXIV. 

Lazaretto — Dr. Kyat . 246 — 8 

Simon the tanner's house 248 

Site, gardens and produce of Jaffa , 249 — SO 

LETTER XXV. 

Journey to Jerusalem — Ramlah . . . . . 251 

Summer camps of the Bishop &c. . . . 252 

English church at Jerusalem ..... — 

Visit to Bethlehem 253 

LETTER XXVI. 

Sketch of journey to Beyrout . . . . . 254 

Temperature and climate 255 

Garden cultivation of surrounding country ... 256 



Memorandum upon Notes ...... 257 

NOTES EOR LETTERS. 

Excursion to Jericho and Dead Sea . . . . 258 

The Quarantana . . 259 

The Jordan ........ — 

Dead Sea, and water-fowl upon it ... — 

Plants on the shores . . . . . . . 260 

Ascent to Mar Saba — 

Engedi— heights of 261 

TheKidron ........ 262 

The Convent of Mar Saba — 

Excursion to Hebron . . ■> . . . . 263 

Rachael's tomb, &c. — 

Pools of Solomon «. 264 



CONTENTS OF LETTERS. 



Paved road into Hebron 

Oak of Mamre 

Hebron still Kirjath Arba 
Snow of 1850 in Holy Land 
Local antiquities and population of Hebron 
Glass works 

Jerusalem to Beyrout . 
Nablous, Mount Ebal, &c 
Samaritans 
Sebaste 

Date pakn at Gennin 
Bsdraelon . 
Nazareth 

Traditional period of Joseph's residence in Egypt, &c . 



Fair maidens and foul state of Nazareth . . . 268 

Mount Tabor — its vegetation, &c. — 

Mount Carmel 258—270 

Caiffa ......... 269 

Elijah's cave . . . . . . . . 270 

Acre — 

Tyre . .... 271 

Sidon — local fertility, and export trade ... — 

Distant view of Lebanon ...... 272 



Preface to Extracts ....... 273 

Letters of Rev. James Barnett 274 

Ditto Mr. George Moore 278 

Postscript 280 



PAGE. 

264 
265 



266 



267 



(Letter I.) 



Sultan Steamek, 
at Sea, between Cape St. Vincent and Gibraltar, 

October 4th, 1850. 



My dear E 

Early to-morrow we shall probably be at Gibraltar, 
and as the vessel will remain for a few hours only to 
coal before continuing her course to Malta, but little 
time will be afforded for going ashore, and none left for 
writing to England. The delightfully calm and now 
sunny weather enables me to sit down and give you a 
short account of our progress since we left Southampton, 
which, till to day, the rough state of the sea would not 
permit me to do, and even now, the vibration of the 
vessel, as you will perceive, makes writing not the most 
agreeable or easy task. 

Our number of passengers altogether amounts to 
about thirty, and we have a very heavy cargo of goods 
on board. We shall arrive I trust at Malta on Wed- 
nesday or Thursday, when I must put myself in 



2 



LETTERS OF 



quarantine for three days, until the Government 
steamer is ready to take me and the Indian passengers 
to Alexandria, on arriving at which place, we shall be 
admitted without delay to pratique, which would not be 
the case, if we had communicated or gone ashore at 
Malta. 

We had very heavy weather in crossing the Bay of 
Biscay, a great deal of sea, and a constantly over-cast 
sky of whity-brown, with occasional rain and fog, from 
which we did not emerge until this morning, in about 
the latitude of Cape St. Yincent. Nothing could be more 
dull and dreary than the aspect of sea and sky as we 
ran down the coasts of Spain and Portugal, of which, 
from the thickness of the weather we had only oc- 
casional glimpses, and very bleak and iron -bound they 
appeared, but lofty and picturesque, reminding me (I 
speak of the small range of coast-line off Cape Fin- 
isterre), of the coast of Ireland near Cape Clear, wild 
and rocky in the extreme. 

I was far from comfortable all Tuesday and Wed- 
nesday, but I have now found my sea-legs and appetite, 
and all other nautical requisites ; the time passes but 
slowly however, even with my own books, and a very 
nice little library on board. The weather is delightfully 
warm and sunny, and all the ladies have come forth 
from their hiding places, and are enjoying themselves 
on deck, singing Italian airs to a piano. Our worthy 
Captain is a great favourite with all on board, his round 
face glowing with such a high colour and good humour, 
that it does one's heart good to look at him. The table 
is not so luxurious and profuse as on board the West 
India packets, but what is much better, it is good, plain 
and substantial, with wine (port and sherry) and spirits 
included; champagne twice a week. We have plenty 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 


3 


of room, and the passengers are all disposed to be 
soeiable and pleased with each other, a state of things 
which can hardly be otherwise with such a Captain to 
preside over our little society. 

Head winds retarded our progress down channel, and 
afterwards the wind and heavy sea were not in favour 
of quick progress ; on the whole however, we have done 
very fairly, and our passage hitherto cannot be con- 
sidered a bad one, although somewhat long. I am told 
that the passage from Southampton to Gibraltar has 
been made by the " Sultan " in four days and twenty 
hours, more than once ; the distance is 1142 miles nau- 
tical. I have just heard that there is great probability 
that the quarantine betwixt Malta and Alexandria 
has been suspended, and that vessels will be at 
once admitted to pratique at the latter place, if they 
can procure a clean bill of health from the former ; if 
this should prove true, there will be no necessity for 
any of our party putting ourselves in quarantine on 
arriving at Malta, but we can go quietly on shore to 
our hotel, undisturbed by the fear of having to expiate 
the deed in the Lazaretto at Alexandria, for I know 
not how many days. We cannot be sure of this good 
report being true, till we arrive at Gibraltar, or even 
perhaps at Malta ; but the authorities at Gibraltar will 
probably be apprized of a relaxation of the lately 
existing quarantine laws to the eastward. 

The weather to-night is quite warm, so that we can 
sit with pleasure on deck, and the sky is much clearer 
than on any previous day ; although by no means what 
people picture to themselves of the atmosphere of the 
south of Spain. 

October 4th, 8 p.m. The sea is calm as a mirror ; 
our noble vessel making her way fast towards the 





4 


LETTERS OF 




entrance of the Strait, with a motion scarcely per- 
ceptible below. Unfortunately we shall not arrive at 
Gibraltar by day-light. We have kept so far out to 
sea, that the coast of Spain and Portugal has been 
unseen from the deck, but we are to have a splendid 
view of the Spanish shore to-morrow, and a good 
glimpse of Algiers. Had the weather been fine and 
clear, we should have run close along shore a great part 
of the way from Cape Finisterre to Gibraltar. As we 
shall remain on shore for several hours, I hope to 
see a good deal of the place on this first visit, and 

will do all I can to find out Major H 's tomb in the 

military burial ground, and report on its state for 
his sister's information. 

Gibraltar , October ; 5th. We arrived here this morn- 
ing very early, and I was up and on deck, at six o'clock, 
to admire the magnificent view of the Bay and Rock of 
Gibraltar, which fully came up to, and I may almost 
say, surpassed the idea I had formed of it. From 
arriving so early, our supply of coals had been got in 
sooner than was anticipated, and the Captain announced 
his intention of starting for Malta at noon instead of at 
2 p.m., so that we had two hours less for going ashore 
than we had calculated upon. As a permit for ascending 
the " Rock " could not be had so early from the town- 
major's office, I gave up all idea of going to the summit 
this time, and contented myself with perambulating the 
lower parts of the Rock and the town, and botanizing 
along the shore between the new and old towns. How- 
ever, I gained a very considerable elevation, quite 
sufficient to give me a perfect view of the glorious 
panorama of sea and land, in survevinar which, I found 
my telescope a most invaluable companion. With what 
raptures would my dear E have looked on the 



W. A BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 


5 


majestic mountains of Spain, and the vast Atlas range 
on the opposite coast of Africa, lighted up by a bright 
sun, with the deep blue of the bay beneath ; and how 
often I wished for her at my side, for there was a dry 
fresh breeze on the rock that would have made the 
temperature perfectly supportable, if not almost agree- 
able to her. 

The chief defect of the landscape is the want of 
wood, which gives an air of nakedness and sameness to 
the mountains, but they are sprinkled with low bushes 
and tufted plants which render them not wholly devoid 
of verdure ; whilst the rock itself between the new and 
old towns is one continued garden. The town is much 
better built, and far cleaner than I expected ; and the 
Rock on a more extensive scale than I imagined. Very 
few wild plants were in flower; most of them being 
either quite burnt up, in seed, or not yet in bloom ; 
nevertheless I found a great many curious species I had 
not before seen growing, and the garden vegetation 
has almost as much of a tropical aspect as in the West 
Indies. The town is a very amusing place, from the end- 
less variety of features and costumes ; I remarked many 
very handsome Spanish faces, such as we see depicted 
by the old masters, but numbers had very ordinary ones, 
although fine black eyes are nearly universal. I shall 
hope to spend a week or a fortnight at this interesting 
place on my return ; as yet, I have only an imperfect 
idea of Gibraltar, We had a splendid view of the back 
of the rock, as we rounded Europa Point, a bare, black 
precipice, totally devoid of vegetation ; and immedi- 
ately the high mountains of Andalusia came into view, 
part, I believe, of the Sierra Nevada ; but a slight haze, 
and our distance from them, only rendered their 
outlines visible, which were very fine. 





6 


LETTERS OF 




Sunday, October 6th, (between Gibraltar and Malta). 
We are now in the enjoyment of almost tropical 
weather, careering over the blue Mediterranean at ten 
knots an hour, with no wind, but with an uneasy swell, 
sufficient to affect me in a slight degree when sitting 
erect below to write, as I am doing now. Divine 
service has just been performed in the saloon ; and the 
whole ship's crew mustered in their best attire ; a most 
copious supply of bibles and prayer-books being dis- 
tributed on the table from a stock kept on board by the 
" Company." The chief officer acted as reader. 

One of our most active stewards broke his leg this 
morning in running up a short ladder from the main to 
the quarter-deck; the foot having caught in between 
two of the steps, the bone was snapped across by the 
impetus acquired. 

Monday, October 1th. Getting on famously, nine 
and a half knots an hour. Passed Algiers this morning 
about seven o'clock, but at too great a distance to 
distinguish anything on shore ; we have seen merely a 
glimpse of the African continent since leaving 
Gibraltar. The uneasy motion of the sea still con- 
tinues, and there is no wind to keep the ship steady. 
The thermometer this morning in the Captain's cabin 
on deck, was 78 at 9 a.m. The weather since we arrived 
at Gibraltar, has been like our own in the height of 
summer, with a sky very similar in aspect, that is, 
streaked, mottled, and partly overspread with fleecy 
clouds. To-day the atmosphere is less clear. I cannot 
perceive the slightest increase of depth in the blue tone 
of the sky since we left Southampton, although we are 
nearly 300 miles within that sea so renowned, in 
popular belief, for the azure purity of its heaven. The 
starlight too is not a whit more brilliant than with us 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 


7 


on ordinary clear nights. The warmth of the climate is 
already exerting a most beneficial influence on me; I 
am in excellent spirits, appetite and digestion perfect ; 
and only long to escape the tedium of the voyage, 
which, however I contrive to while away very tolerably. 
There are I find eleven of us going on to Alexandria, 
but no one excepting myself, will stop in Egypt ; the 
rest are all for Bombay. 

October 8th. Much cooler to day, very fine, but a 
good deal of cloud floating in the sky at one time ; our 
speed is increased to nearly eleven knots an hour ; the 
motion of the ship very disagreeable, but no one ill on 
board. Passed some islands, the largest of which was 
Galita, all said to be uninhabited, very bare and bleak. 
Towards evening we neared the coast of Africa, and 
had a good view of Cape Bona, the highest headland 
between Gibraltar and Malta. We were not near 
enough to distinguish any object on shore, and the line 
of coast though bold, had no particularly foreign or 
exotic character about it, nor was it invested with that 
clear transparent atmosphere one hears so much about 
in the Mediterranean, whose waves however had all the 
deep azure I remember to have been struck with in 
1827. Algiers was sighted in the morning, but at far 
too great a distance to get even a distinct view of the 
town. The evening was very clear and calm, but rather 
cool. We expect to reach Malta to-morrow between 
3 and 4 p.m., and, as you may suppose, are extremely 
anxious to learn our fate, whether it is to quarantine or 
pratique we are to be admitted. No one will rejoice 
more than myself to step ashore there, to have a bath, 
and a cup of tolerable tea or coffee, both of which are 
scarce luxuries on board packet ships. 





8 


LETTERS OF 




Should we be under the necessity of putting our- 
selves in quarantine, the Lazaretto at Malta is spoken 
of as by no means uncomfortable quarters, and our 
term of durance will be past when the over-land mail 
steamer from Marseilles comes to our relief. It is the 
being at a place which one is forbidden to ramble over, 
that makes quarantine in this case so provoking. Our 
evenings pass off very agreeably, the young ladies being 
now all recovered from sea-sickness ; the piano, which 
is really a very good one, is in constant requisition, and 
singing and playing while away the time pleasantly. 
This voyage is the first I have made in which no cards 
have been introduced ; and although wine, spirits, and 
other beverages are supplied gratis by the " Company," 
not one of our passengers has indulged in liberal 
potations. Lights are put out in the saloon at half- 
past ten, but the floating wick lamps in the sleeping or 
state rooms, are allowed to burn themselves out, and 
usually last till daylight. 

October 9th. A most beautiful morning, very clear 
and moderately warm. Malta is now in sight, (10 a.m.) 
and a few hours will terminate three-fourths of the 
passage to Alexandria, which we expect to reach on 
the nineteenth. 

October 10th. Malta Lazaretto. Our hope of being 
allowed to take pratique without subjecting ourselves 
to quarantine at Alexandria has been disappointed, and 
we were compelled to put ourselves in the latter dis- 
agreeable position yesterday, on our arrival in the 
harbour of Valetta, about three o'clock. Our party 
consists of twelve, all, except myself, going to India. 
The quarantine buildings stand on a point of the 
harbour, isolated from the rest of the town ; and consist 
of ranges of apartments, very lofty, and beautifully 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 


9 


clean, white-washed, and with stone floors, and each room 
is abundantly supplied, with water. The only furniture 
is a chair or two, a rough wash-hand stand and an iron 
bedstead. As we are not, properly speaking, in quaran- 
tine, but only in the position of persons not holding 
communication with an infected place, we are not 
allowed to have any servant to assist us, because were 
any one coming off from the town to touch us, we 
should be immediately in quarantine for the full time 
required to enable us to take pratique on our arriving 
at Alexandria, that is, ten or fifteen days at least. We 
must now perform the most menial offices for ourselves, 
make our own beds, &c, with a guardian ever watching 
us, whom, if we were to touch, we should be obliged to 
perform full quarantine from that moment. 

The weather is extremely hot still ; to clay, far 
warmer than any we have had since we left England, 
with an almost cloudless sky, the rainy season not 
having commenced. 

Bedding must be paid for here as an extra, but 
Captain Brookes, of the " Sultan," with great liberality, 
has ordered a quantity of mattresses, sheets, and 
blankets, to be sent to us from the ship, which he will 
take back on his return from Constantinople. None of 
us however could get much rest last night from the 
incessant attacks of mosquitoes ; the only insect annoy- 
ance we are exposed to here : we can, it is true, have 
mosquito curtains by paying for them, but the narrow- 
ness of the beds themselves is another cause of dis- 
comfort, not to be remedied, and we are fain to put up 
with our light misfortunes, from which we look forward 
to be relieved on Sunday by the arrival of the steamer 
from Marseilles, In our party of twelve, there are only 
four gentlemen including myself ; the rest are ladies, 


L 



10 


LETTERS OF 




most of whom are girls, the daughters and nieces of 

Colonel S -, an officer of the Indian army, returning 

with his wife to Bombay, a pleasing and gentlemanly 

man. Mr. P , sl young cadet going out to join his 

regiment in India, and Dr. F , are our other as- 
sociates, and we form quite a sociable and merry party. 
Our way of living is droll enough, as we must touch 
nobody, not even the guardian, or the persons who bring 
us our meals, which are furnished from a trattoria close 
at hand, the owner of which is himself in pratique. 
As an instance of the extreme absurdity of the quaran- 
tine laws — although we are strictly forbidden to come in 
contact with any person employed in conveying food or 
messages to us poor prisoners, yet we touch and taste 
fruit, bread, vegetables, &c, which they have handled, 
and money is allowed to pass freely between us. 

October Wth. Another charming day, with a de- 
licious breeze on the flat stone or stucco roof of our 
prison house. The ladies have discovered that there are 
worse inmates than the mosquitoes in our apartments ; 
but though seriously tormented by the latter, I have not 
seen the more odious insects in my room. We all slept 
better last night, but on meeting at breakfast this 
morning, the fair faces of our female friends bore the 
appearance of an attack of measles, and my hands and 
forehead are covered with bites. I endeavoured to 
exclude the enemy by tying a pocket handkerchief over 
the whole head and face, and lying completely en- 
veloped in the upper sheet, but the remedy proved 
worse than the disease, from the heat thus generated, 
and the hindrance to breathing. The common house-fly 
swarms about everything eatable, but is not otherwise 
troublesome ; and I have not observed a single blue- 
bottle. A harmless myriapode, allied to Scolopendra, 
caused great disgust to our young Cadet last night, as 



W. A. BROMFIELD. — No. 1. 



it hurried across his bed ; and we saw whilst at tea one 
of those large spiders so common in Suffolk and at 
Hampton Court, called daws or cardinals, but our only 
real annoyance hitherto has been the mosquitoes. 

Our rooms command a fine view of the town of 
La Valette and the Quarantine Harbour, and the terrace 
on the flat roof is extremely spacious. There we pass a 
great deal of our time after sunset, and there I find 
great amusement at all times with my telescope, which 
does service pro bono publico. We are permitted to 
have a boat, and row about the quarantine harbour, but 
our limits are rigidly defined, and we cannot enter the 
great harbour, which I have not yet seen, but suppose 
that the " Medina " will go in to take passengers off on 
Sunday at twelve at noon, when, we are told, we shall 
be released from our not very irksome confinement. We 
breakfast at nine, dine at three, have tea at seven, and 
cheat the mosquitoes as long as we can by remaining on 
the house-top, upon which fortunately we are not pro- 
hibited from staying all night, if we think proper, and 
the temperature then is delicious, nor do the mosquitoes 
venture so high, at least in any numbers. Our guardian 
is a good looking Maltese or Italian, more to be pitied 
than any of us, having nothing to do but to keep guard 
over us, and to saunter about in the corridor, and on the 
shore below our castle. The only service he performs is 
to bring messages oral or written, to place the dishes at 
meals within reach and yet avoid coming in contact with 
any of our party. We really (bating the mosquitoes), 
pass our time of durance very pleasantly, with a brilliant 
sun ever shining on us, and an exhilarating temperature; 
and buoyed up with the hope of being within two days 
from this time winging our way to the land of the 
Pharoahs, whither we all look forward with impatience 
to arrive on Thursday next. 



12 


LETTERS OF 




Our expences in quarantine will not at the outside 
amount to more than ten shillings a day for each person, 
for everything is under Government regulation, and a 
price fixed. We do not hear of any new cases of cholera 
in the town, excepting a solitary one of two days back. 

The view from our windows, verandah, and roof, is 
very fine, but immeasurably behind that from the Bay 
and Eock of Gibraltar ; for there is here no very bold 
scenery, and a great deficiency of shadow in the land- 
scape owing to the want of trees. There is not the 
slightest appearance of the rainy season approaching at 
present, the temperature at this moment, by the ther- 
mometer on the table at 1, p.m., is 73. The houses 
of La Valetta are of a yellowish white free-stone, and 
with perfectly flat roofs. The Government House, and 
the English Church built by Queen Adelaide, are two 
of the most conspicuous of the public buildings, besides 
the walls and fortifications which are mantled with 
caper-bushes, the branches of which, hang gracefully 
in thick verdant tresses. The fruits supplied us here 
are very indifferent ; the best are grapes, now going out 
of season, but most of these are thick-skinned and 
insipid ; the peaches very large, hard, and worthless ; 
the only pears we have seen were mellow, but sleepy, 
as are likewise the apples; the dried figs are good, 
pomegranates very poor ; melons passably good. Our 
dining table is adorned with large bouquets of flowers? 
and we received a present of some this morning, all 
very inferior to English flowers cf the same kind, and 
consisting of only the few following ; white and red 
China roses, (poor of their kind), sweet scented verbena, 
heliotrope, and scarlet geranium, each and all of which 
would be thought very mediocre samples of their 
varieties with us. I forgot to mention a few dahlias, 



W. A. BROMFIELD.—No. I. 


13 


good in colour, but smaller than with us. It is not 
probable that these were the choicest productions of the 
Maltese flower gardens ; yet the two gift bouquets are 
probably a pretty fair specimen of local cultivation. 
The potatoes here are excellent, and the growth of the 
island. 

October \2th. Another glorious day, after a night 
of restlessness from our pitiless enemies the mosquitoes, 
and I am sorry to add, less cleanly, though not 
more annoying foes. We all look forward to release 
from prison to-morrow, or on Monday morning at latest. 
We expect to find it as much warmer at Alexandria, as 
this place exceeds Gibraltar in that respect; for 
although in very nearly the same latitude, Malta is 
surrounded by a sea of higher temperature than the 
Atlantic, and there is not the same indraught of cool 
air from the adjacent coasts, or ocean, or from the high 
mountains of the European or African shores, which 
keeps Gibraltar comparatively cool. In Malta, the 
highest land I am told, is not above five or six hundred 
feet, and there being no wood, and few trees of any size, 
the glare and heat from the white rocks must be 
extreme. Of the city of La Yaletta, I can of course 
say nothing, although so close to the main part of it ; it 
seems to be well built, and has a very imposing ap- 
pearance from the water, but it is not so pretty an 
object as Ryde when seen from the pier-head. Queen 
Adelaide's new church is, as I have observed, the most 
conspicuous building on this side of the town, and its 
erection is said to have excited the most violent op- 
position from the Romish priesthood, which is extremely 
bigoted in Malta. 

AlPTflYinvin Cfofnnpv 18/7) Wp ATTivpn ott tnisi tiIqpp 

last night, in the Government steamer ei Medina" from 
Marseilles, and entered the harbour this morning at 





14 


LETTERS OF 




sunrise, after an unpleasant but not stormy passage : 
the very uneasy motion of the vessel affecting 
every one of the passengers, being compounded of 
pitching and rolling ; the worst kind of motion, and 
there was hardly any wind. The Medina, commanded 
as she is, by a Lieutenant in the Navy, exhibits a 
strange mixture of civil and naval arrangements and 
usages, with nothing like the order, promptness, and 
care, which one expects to see on Her Majesty's 
quarter- deck. 

We entered the bay of Alexandria under as English 
a looking sky as one could wish to have to remind one 
of home ; and at Malta, the night of Sunday when we 
started was much over-cast, but during the passage the 
weather was uniformly fine. Picture to yourself our 
bright summer weather, when the heavens are canopied 
with detached flocculent masses of white, upon a ground 
of pale blue, and you have the exact idea of the pre- 
vailing aspect of the Arabian and Egyptian mackarel 
sky, which is exactly what I expected to find it, and 
very nearly that of the tropics. 

On entering the Harbour of Alexandria, the weather 
looked very threatening, but cleared off, and became 
fine and extremely hot all day, with a cool delicious 
breeze, and fine at night. Judge therefore of my 
astonishment on rising this morning, to find it pouring 
with rain, accompanied by occasional claps of thunder, 
but not very violent : the rain ceased before 10 a.m., 
and now, (19th at noon), it is both damp and hot, and 
this makes the mosquitoes very active and troublesome 
in broad day, which is not often the case : as to flies, I 
do not find more than in England ; not a tithe of the 
numbers that settled on everything at Malta. 

We found all the men of war in the harbour decked 
out with flags, as we entered yesterday, it being a great 



W. A, BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 


15 


Mahommedan festival ; I believe that of Beiram. We 
saw several magnificent line of battle ships in ap- 
parently high order and discipline, from which the 
Turkish ensign, (the crescent and star), waved con- 
spicuously. The harbour presented a far more animated 
and crowded appearance than that of Portsmouth, being 
literally filled with shipping. We were on shore before 
ten o'clock, and I, who alone of all the party remained 
at Alexandria, was neither asked for my passport nor 
compelled to submit to Custom-house examination, but 
drove quietly off to the hotel, (Ray's), in the Frank 
Square, heartily glad to escape from the closeness and 
confinement of our probationary sojourn at Malta, 
which had quite ruined, pro. tern., the complexions of 
our lady fellow travellers, three of whom were really 
very pretty. 

I have just learned that the Medina leaves this place 
on Monday with the English mail via Marseilles, so 
that I must have this dispatch posted without further 
delay, and must reserve my account of Alexandria for 
another letter. 

I snclose five little packets of seeds for Mr. Lawrence, 
to whom remember me. 

October 20th. Another wet morning, a very heavy 
shower for an hour or two, and the great Frank Square 
in which I lodge, covered with pools, or rather immense 
puddles, which the heat of the sun raises into vapour, 
and renders the air extremely damp, giving fresh life 
and vigour to my friends the mosquitoes. 

* - # * * 

Believe me, 

My dear E , 

Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 





16 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter II.) 



Alexandria, 

October 22nd, 1850. 



My dear E — — 

I dispatched my first communication from this place 
by the Medina steamer yesterday, and I hope it will 
be safely received by you in about ten or twelve days. 

This morning I called on the British Consul, 
Mr. Gilbert, and received from him a kind note from 
Sir Gardner Wilkinson, enclosed under cover with a 
second to Dr. Abbot, of Cairo, for whom I have an 
introductory letter. I delivered yesterday Mr. Fagan's 
letter to the Rev. James Winder, our Chaplain here, 
who received me very obligingly. 1 fancy that here, 
hospitality, in out English sense of the word, is not the 
order of the day, owing probably not to any want of 
that virtue in the British residents, but to the difficulties 
they lie under in its exercise, with their small establish- 
ments, and unmanageable Arab servants, from whom 
punctuality is hardly to be expected, and whose sloth is 
proverbial. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 2. 



This hotel, (Ray's), on the Frank Square, is really as 
comfortable as most foreign houses of the kind on 
the continent of Europe. I have a very large, airy, 
and lofty bed-room on the second floor, looking on the 
great square, boarded, and with a wrought iron bedstead, 
furnished with mosquito curtains of fine muslin, without 
which, a night's rest would be an impossibility; the 
walls papered, a bad and rather unusual plan in a warm 
climate, as affording harbour for insects, though it 
imparts an air of cheerfulness and comfort to the other- 
wise bare walls. The French windows are glazed, with 
green jalousie blinds outside, and chintz window 
curtains within ; so that in winter, the cold, (which is, I 
am told much felt at Alexandria, on account of the 
damp which accompanies it), must be in a great degree 
excluded. The cuisine is very good: but butcher's 
meat indifferent, the mutton just tolerable, the beef, I 
am told, very bad, but this I have not seen yet, and I 
believe it rarely comes to table : I suspect that in most 
cases it is buffalo beef, and that I cannot imagine 
either tender or palatable. I have seen herds of these 
animals in the streets, and occasionally a few oxen, 
perhaps of Barbary race, but very different from our 
British breeds. The Egyptian buffalo is a large 
creature, with comparatively short horns turned down- 
wards, and is as perfectly quiet and inoffensive as the 
English ox, and, like that, is used for draught. Poultry 
and fish are the chief sources of animal diet, with 
pigeons and various small birds. The poultry is 
diminutive, and is reared on the flat roofs of the houses : 
fowls are never seen in the streets, as the swarms of 
vagrant dogs would give them no quarter, At night 
the whole town resounds with the crowing of cocks, the 
incessant barking and snarling of the dogs, and the 



B 



18 


LETTERS OF 




braying of innumerable donkeys. The butter here is 
intolerable, and as well as the milk, is for the most part 
the produce of the goats which one meets everywhere 
driven about the streets ; I have given up all idea 
of tasting butter till I get back to dear old England. 
The water at Alexandria is delivered to the con- 
sumers in the city in skins slung across the backs of 
camels. The appearance of these water-skins is very 
far from recommending the pure element to thirsty lips : 
but I have already learned the necessity of not being 
over nice in anything relating to eating and drinking in 
Egypt, as far at least as regards the raw material. The 
water at Alexandria is wholly derived from the inun- 
dation of the Nile, which is suffered to flow into the 
large subterranean cisterns of the ancient city, many of 
which are still in perfect preservation; and in these 
cisterns the water is retained fit for use, till again 
replenished by the succeeding year's inundation. The 
mouths of these cisterns, looking like wells, may be seen 
in various parts of the city, and are usually surrounded 
by a crowd of water-carriers with their camels; the 
water is either drawn up in leathern buckets, or by a 
rude water-wheel called a Sa'ckiegeh, having earth ern 
jars fastened around the circumference of the wheel, 
which is worked by a horse. The soil at Alexandria is 
impregnated with salt, which is, I presume, the cause of 
its dreary and absolute sterility, wherever the hand of 
man has not improved its nature. The great Frank 
Square is supposed to have been the site of the ancient 
docks, the soil in which has been raised by continual 
accumulations from, buildings, and perhaps natural de- 
posits, because sea-weed is found at a certain depth 
below the surface, and during heavy rains water rises 
through the soil and covers the Square with pools, that 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 2. 


1<J 


leave on subsiding, by absorption underground, and by 
evaporation, a saline incrustation, as I remarked after 
the heavy showers a day or two ago- The Nile water 
of the old under-ground cisterns is very clear, nor do I 
perceive any unpleasant taste in it, or find it disagree : 
but I do not often drink it alone, but mixed with Claret 
or Burgundy, a wine I prefer to Sherry, which is not 
good here, and very dear besides. The general price 
for both French and Spanish wines of all kinds is thirty 
piastres, about five shillings, the bottle. Marsala alone 
is much cheaper, only fifteen piastres ; pale ale and 
porter, ten piastres or one shilling and eight-pence the 
bottle, which is exorbitant, being two-thirds more than 
the retail price in England. The fruit here is very 
indifferent, with the exception of a small species of fig, 
bananas, and dates ; the latter are most abundant, there 
being whole groves of date-palms in different quarters 
of the city, and hardly a garden, however small, with- 
out several of these trees, which are now loaded with 
their great pendulous clusters of ripe fruit, making a 
splendid, although somewhat monotonous appearance : 
the growth of the date-palm being so extremely formal, 
that every tree looks like a reflection of its next neigh- 
bour in a mirror. The date has nothing of the light 
feathery aspect, and wants the majestic stature of the 
cocoa-nut, arica, and other tropical palms; here, it 
seldom exceeds thirty or thirty-five feet, and usually 
not more than twenty-five ; and its rather stiff leaves 
have a sea-green tint, not the soft bright verdure of 
more southern palms. I see three varieties of date in 
the markets, one a large yellow or orange coloured sort, 
another of a bright red, and a third of a dark purple or 
plum colour : but the date not being a fruit much to my 
taste, fresh or dried, I patronize them very little. The 





20 


LETTERS OF 




only grapes I have seen here, are a large, oval, fleshy, 
and insipid fruit, of a muddy opaque white, tinged here 
and there with red, and looking much like the white 
grape imported in jars from Lisbon, and so often seen 
in our shops ; but the season of grapes is nearly gone 
by, so I ought not perhaps to conclude that I have 
eaten the choicest fruit of the vine, although I am told 
that very few are good at Alexandria. 

To an utter stranger to the East, like myself, 
Alexandria is an entertaining place, although said to 
present less of an oriental character than many others. 
Viewed from a distance, or from the lofty crow's nest 
on the roof of my hotel, the place has a very imposing 
appearance. The fine harbour now covered with 
shipping, the blue expanse of the Mediterranean on the 
north, and the vast mass of houses in the rear, the 
numerous country villas of the Franks and wealthier 
natives in the distance, the large gardens and planta- 
tions of date trees which occupy a great space within 
the walls, and the noble area of the Frank Square on 
which I am looking down, all lighted up by a bright sun 
or moon, (for the latter is now at the full), furnish 
certainly a fine panorama ; but not one of these objects 
will bear the test of a close inspection ; a profusion of 
mortar and whitewash are the elements of all this 
appearance of splendour. The glare is excessive on 
every side, there is no shade, no relief from the hot 
dazzling white of every thing around ; the very ground 
is lime dust, partly derived from the mounds of rubbish 
that block up every piece of waste or vacant ground, 
partly from the naturally white calcareous rock of the 
vicinity. Outside the walls, the most absolute sterility 
reigns; vast mounds of broken pottery and building 
rubbish, with scarcely a trace of vegetation: only here 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 2. 



21 



and tliere a thin wiry grass, (Cynodon Dactylon), 
a few patches of the castor-oil plant, acacias or 
prickly pear, or a little patch of garden maintained 
by constant irrigation, meet the eye : but some of the 
roads leading out of the city eastward, were planted by 
the late Pasha with acacias, Acacia lebbek, which are 
now thriving, and within the walls are similar avenues 
of acacias and tamarisks, but too young to afford much 
shade at present. The Frank Square is a parallelogram 
of noble dimensions, and viewed by moonlight looks 
quite magnificent, but wretched taste and dilapidation 
are its distinguishing features by daylight : whitewash, 
falling stucco, plaster, and decaying wood-work, being 
the materials which light up with such effect at night, or 
in perspective by day. Between this square and the 
harbour, is spread a vast labyrinth of intricate streets, 
lanes, and alleys of wretched houses, densely inhabited 
by a mixed population of all nations, and of every 
imaginable costume. Some of the streets are very long 
and tolerably wide, but most of them are extremely 
narrow, close, and crooked, but highly entertaining to 
thread one's way through, amongst the motley groups 
of human beings, camels, donkeys, and dogs, with which 
they are absolutely thronged. The dogs here are a 
serious nuisance from their numbers, and disposition to 
growl and bark at Frank passengers, between whom 
and the faithful, they distinguish with great acuteness, 
never molesting the latter. The race is lean, wolfish, 
and prick-eared, with long whitish or reddish hair, 
extremely lazy, lying about in the roads in the sun, and 
giving themselves no trouble except to fly out and bark 
at the unoffending infidel, especially if he happens to 
be on foot. However, they are great cowards, sel- 
dom attempting to bite excepting unawares, or at an 



22 


LETTERS OF 





advantage; the merely pretending to stoop and pick 
up a stone, putting them to flight instanter. The dogs 
inhabiting the towns are less troublesome to strangers 
than those which haunt the miserable hovels of mud or 
unbaked brick outside the walls, near which, it is some- 
times hardly safe to pass for the multitude of these 
animals. 

In the way of antiquities, there is scarcely anything 
worthy of notice at Alexandria, although Greek in- 
scriptions are sometimes met with in removing the 
mounds of rubbish that have been accumulating for 
ages in and around the city. Of course, I paid a visit 
to Pompey's pillar, and the two obelisks known as 
Cleopatra's needles, and I cannot say that I was at all 
struck with either. The former stands on a desolate 
hill surrounded by mounds of rubbish, and is as badly 
executed, and as ill-designed a column as can be; the 
base is in a very dilapidated state, and the shaft 
bedaubed in huge black letters with the patronymics of 
two ambitious aspirants for fame. The obelisks are 
close to the shore of the harbour, the only one still 
standing looks as if it could not do so any very great 
time longer, being supported solely on crumbling blocks 
of stone, the hieroglyphics with which it is covered are 
in a great measure obliterated on the two sides most 
exposed to the sea breeze : those on the remaining faces 
are in better preservation. A paltry shed, and a guard- 
house for soldiers, stand close by the erect obelisk, the 
other lies a short distance off, half buried in the soil. 
Some fine columns of red granite of Upper Egypt, may 
be seen lying here and there in the city, that have been 
dug out in making foundations. There are no fine 
mosques in Alexandria, but a few of the minarets are 
interesting in their own peculiar barbaric style of 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 2. 


23 


architecture. None of the convents, or other buildings 
public or private, have the least pretension to beauty, 
most of them being white-washed structures of the 
poorest design, and, in general, extremely out of repair. 
The harem and palace of the Pasha are imposing in 
their way, with a rather pretty garden, open to the 
public, but the palace is quite dismantled, as his 
Highness very seldom honours Alexandria with a visit, 
which I do not wonder at, as the place can have little 
attraction for any one ; nor has the reigning Pasha the 
same motives as his renowned predecessor for making 
Alexandria one of his residences, since naval affairs 
engage but little of his attention, and he has sunk to be 
the mere vassal and representative of his master the 
Sultan, who it is rumoured, is far from being satisfied 
with his administration of affairs in Egypt, and would 
probably have deposed Albas Pasha, were not his 
hereditary right to rule the country guaranteed to him 
by the great European powers. 

The only really handsome building in Alexandria, 
will be the English church in the Frank Square, which 
is now advancing although with extreme slowness 
towards completion. The truth is, the building is on 
such a scale of magnificence as is vastly disproportioned 
to the wants of the Protestant population of Alexandria, 
of which very small community many are not members 
of the established church, but dissenters, or presby- 
terians, &c, but who favour the undertaking because 
they think it preferable to have any Protestant place of 
worship rather than none at all. The original Govern- 
ment grant was lavished on a design by an English 
architect, Mr. Wylde, and the walls of the structure 
built of a most unnecessary thickness, which, together 
with the quantity of tracery and other ornament, soon 





24 


LETTERS OF 




exhausted the funds, and the church, although not yet 
roofed in, and without the tower, has already cost 
upwards of four thousand pounds. Subscriptions con- 
tinue however to come in, although slowly, from persons 
visiting or passing through Egypt on their way to India, 
and workmen are always doing something towards 
finishing the church. Mr. Winder has been about 
fifteen years in Alexandria, is a very well informed man, 
and seems to be an Oriental as well as Hebrew scholar. 
He tells me that the society of Alexandria is very 
limited, and that he leads a very secluded life, amusing 
himself, I should suppose, chiefly with his books ; for as 
to any other means of passing time agreeably, neither 
the social, nor certainly the natural attractions in or 
about the city> offer the least scope to a permanent 
resident ; for even to a stranger like myself, the objects 
of interest here are extremely few. Filth, disease, and 
the most abject poverty, meet you at every step ; when 
you walk out you are everywhere annoyed by the dogs; 
the glare from the white ground and still whiter build- 
ings and rubbish heaps is excessive, the heat, as you 
may suppose, not diminished by reflection, and clouds 
of lime dust ; and there is no shade except in the 
gardens : there has however been a cool breeze during 
my stay, and the nights have been delightfully fresh 
and pleasant. The mosquitoes torment you in your 
apartment without a moment's respite as soon as the 
sun goes down, and in a less degree during the day. 
Another enemy, so minute as to be scarcely visible to 
the naked eye, and which is here called a sand-fly, is 
very troublesome by the tickling sensation it causes in 
running over the back of the hands, and by the 
occasional bite it inflicts, which is like the contact of a 
minute particle of some ignited matter. The abund- 



IV. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 2. 


25 


ance of mosquitoes at Alexandria is probably clue to 
the underground cisterns, of which so many remain in 
as good repair as in ancient times, and to the vast 
surface of stagnant, and half fresh, half sea-water of 
the Lake Mareotis, which is the cause likewise of the 
fever and dysentery, that in addition to the cholera, 
(which is again on the increase), are sadly prevalent 
at this moment in the city. The season, this year, as I 
learn from Mr. Davidson, the Company's chief agent at 
Alexandria, has been remarkably sickly, the heat un- 
usually prolonged, and the rise of the Nile somewhat 
less than it ought to be. After heavy showers the 
streets are in a puddle, like thick cream, and their 
extreme narrowness hinders the evaporation of the 
water with which they are sprinkled daily by the water- 
carriers, and which always keeps them damp as w T ell as 
dirty. Hence, a low typhus fever is one of the great 
sources of the mortality in Alexandria, which is so ex- 
cessive as to amount to one-tenth of the entire popu- 
lation annually, as appears by the returns of the last 
twenty years. In London the average annual mortality 
is only one in forty or forty-five of the whole population. 
Betw r een the 20th and 26th the cases of cholera had 
increased from tw T o, three, five, to eleven per diem. 

* # # * 

Believe me, 

My dear E , 
Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Beomfield. 





26 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter III.) 



Sheppaed's Beitish Hotel, 

UzBEKIEH, CAIEO, 

October 29th, 1850. 

My dear E 

In my last letter dispatched from this interesting- 
city, I had not space left for any account of my voyage 
of thirty hours from Alexandria, which I shall now 
proceed with, before giving you my impressions of 
Cairo, of which I have already seen some of the chief 
lions, including the Pasha himself. The heat, though 
much below what it is a month earlier, still continues 
very high for the season, keeping steadily at 80° or 82° 
during the day ; this morning at eight o'clock it was 
only 78°, and the sun when not veiled as it was yester- 
day by thin stratified clouds, is scorchingly hot, and the 
nights are still so warm that a single sheet is an ample 
covering under the mosquito net, which of course is a 
necessary evil, as it obstructs the ingress of cool, and 
the egress of heated air. Captain Lindguist, who has 
been residing six years at Suez, as an agent of the 
Oriental company, or Transit administration, tells me, 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 



27 



that when here in ordinary seasons, he is accustomed to 
have a fire in his office from the 1st of November, and 
that this year the cold was so long protracted, that he 
did not leave off fires till the 25th of April, which really 
seems incredible in this latitude, 30°, and at the sea level. 
Mr. Trail, late gardener to Ibrahim Pasha at Rhoda, 
for whom I had a letter and pamphlet from Sir 
W. J. Hooker, and whom I traced out to his abode at 
Old Cairo yesterday, informs me, that hoar frost is no 
uncommon tiling here in the winter mornings, and that 
he has seen ice, (thin of course), formed on pools in the 
desert ; probably more through the brisk evaporation by 
the wind in this dry climate, than through the actually 
low temperature of the atmosphere. At present, I do 
not conceive that the most chilly person in the world 
would think of a fire in his room without a double 
distillation of lily dew at every pore, from the bare idea ; 
but the temperature will perhaps fall rapidly when it 
begins to sink, and I am thankful when I look on the 
warm clothing, flannel waistcoats, &c, which I had the 
precaution to add to my travelling list on leaving 
England. 

I left Alexandria at 5 p.m. on the 24th, in one of the 
boats for the conveyance to Cairo of ordinary pas- 
sengers, (not going to India), and which is tracked by a 
small steamer that likewise has passengers on board, on 
the Mahmoudeh canal, as far as Atfeh, where the canal 
joins the Xile, and where a steamer of a larger size 
waits to receive the passengers and their luggage, and 
take them on to Cairo. These boats belong to the 
Transit administration, which is entirely in the hands of 
the Pasha, The time of departure was unfortunate, 
inasmuch as the most interesting part of the trip on the 
canal to Atfeh was performed in the dark, and indeed 



28 LETTERS OF 



for most part of the night in a thick fog which shrouded 
from view all that a bright, but rather late rising moon 
would have revealed of the banks on either side of the 
canal. Hence, I got no sight of the former situation of 
Sais, once the capital of the Delta, and the new build- 
ings at Atfeh, the locks, &c, were but dimly caught 
sight of across the mist which wetted everything on 
deck, and caused some unpleasant reflections on inter- 
mittent or remittent fever to cross my mind occasionally, 
as a few hours before embarking the heat was very 
great, and the air now felt chilly as well as damp, and I 
wished for a great coat in addition to the light clothing 
1 had on, not desiring to be in the cabin below, which 
was crowded and insufferably close. We arrived at 
Atfeh before daybreak, and the fog on the river did not 
clear away till some hours after sunrise. Shortly after 
leaving Alexandria, we heard a great splashing in the 
canal, and much stir and vociferation on board the 
steamer, which caused us novices some alarm, as we 
imagined that a man had fallen overboard; it turned 
out to be only the landing a passenger, which was 
accomplished by his divesting himself of every article 
of clothing, then jumping overboard and swimming 
ashore, his wardrobe, previously made into a bundle, 
being flung after him. Our starting point on the 
Mahmoudeh Canal was about two miles from the hotel; 
the canal itself is of great width, and a wonderful 
undertaking, when one considers that it was finished 
through its entire length of about fifty miles, within a 
twelvemonth : but the reflection that the convenience to 
travellers derived from it was owing to a terrible 
exercise of arbitrary power, and attended with a fearful 
sacrifice of human life, became the predominant feeling 
at the sight of it. 



TV. A BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 


29 


Night soon closed in and hid the country from view, 
but that part of it which we saw on quitting Alexandria 
was pretty in its way, the banks of the canal being 
diversified with white villas, gardens, and small culti- 
vated fields of maize, melons, and different kinds of 
vegetables, with fine sycamore and acacia trees planted 
along the roads. The night passed slowly and 
disagreeably owing to the thick wet fog on deck, and 
the stifling closeness of the cabin below, where, however 
I could have slept away the hours well enough, had 
there been room to lie down, but every place, even to 
the tables was occupied by recumbent passengers, 
Turks, Italians, Greeks, and non-descripts of all nations, 
by some of whom it would not have been prudent or 
agreeable to have bivouacked, and the cabin smelt 
strongly of tobacco, and odours less refined even than 
that. We had one distinguished person on board, of no 
less rank than a Pasha, I think he was called Kheredden 
Pasha, or something very like it, a stout middle-aged, 
jovial personage, with a round good humoured counte- 
nance, and jet black beard, who fared like any of the 
other passengers, and spent his time in smoking and 
playing cards. He wore the insignia of a Pasha, a 
crescent and star of diamonds on the vest in front, and 
the dress of a Turkish field officer and admiral, as he 
belongs to both services, and was present at the battle 
of Navarino. I understand that he contracts to furnish 
the Transit administration with butchers' meat, which is 
not thought derogatory to the high dignity he has 
attained. A day or two after this arrangement was 
made, he invited all the officers of the administration to 
a dinner in Cairo, at which, I am told that the cham- 
pagne, which is his Highness' pet beverage, flowed 
without scant. The diamond decoration of the star and 





30 


LETTERS OF 




crescent is conferred with the rank, but is only lent so 
long as the Pasha continues in favour ; at his death, or 
deposition, it reverts to the Sultan, but may be pur- 
chased like any other jewel by the family. No ceremony 
was observed towards him while on board ; he ate 3 drank, 
talked, and smoked, like all the rest, and his Highness 
favoured us with his company in an omnibus expedition 
on the Desert, which he appeared to enjoy as much as 
any of us. I fancy however that Khereddin Pasha 
holds a sort of brevet rank, as I understand he has no 
province to rule over : he is said to be a man of great 
energy and some talent : he certainly is marvellously 
inclined to good fellowship, and I think were he in 
power, could never prove a harsh or tyrannical governor, 
to judge from his countenance only. 

During the whole of the 24th we had a good view of 
the Delta through which we passed. The features are 
very tame, and monotonously uniform. The yellow turbid 
Nile flowing between crumbling banks of brown alluvial 
soil, which offers nothing but a perfect dead level over 
which large towns and villages are thickly dispersed, 
each an assemblage of the most miserable hovels of mud 
or unburnt brick, with here and there a tenement or 
two of rather better description, perhaps the residence 
of the sheyk, or chief man of the village. Many of 
these places are of considerable size, and all have one 
or more mosques, the minarets of which are the only 
buildings that have the smallest pretension to anything 
like architectural design or skill. Of these towns or 
large villages, no one but the Arab knows the names, so 
that could I have remembered them 3 there was no 
possibility of learning their different designations : some 
of them were doubtless on the sites of ancient places of 
celebrity. Groves of date-palms which here shoot up 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 



31 



to fifty, sixty, and seventy feet, usually surround these 
places, with here and there a spreading sycamore or 
acacia. A most oppressive tax of three piastres 
annually is levied on every date tree, which, when their 
great number is considered, and the extreme poverty of 
the inhabitants, must be a cruel impost, but I have 
great doubts of the correctness of the statement, as a 
tax of rather more than sixpence on every tree, where 
these amount to many hundreds, perhaps even thou- 
sands, is more than I can well conceive so destitute a 
population able to pay, being mainly, if not entirely 
made up of fellahs or cultivators of the soil, a wretched, 
half clad race, of coarse, ugly features, and squalid to 
the last degree. Camels, dromedaries, donkeys, and 
huge buffaloes, with a few dark brown sheep, are their 
chief possessions ; the buffaloes may be seen continually 
lying in mid river, with their noses alone out of the 
water, or swimming across to the opposite bank, 
quiet inoffensive animals, used both for draught and 
burden. We remarked many persons ploughing with a 
camel and a buffalo yoked together in most ill assorted 
fellowship. Dovecotes swarming with myriads of 
pigeons, rose high above the houses in some of the 
larger towns,, of a conical shape, like immense haystacks, 
and pierced with innumerable holes for the birds to 
enter in and come out. Pigeons are a great article of 
consumption in Egypt, where poultry takes the place 
of butchers' meat in a great measure. These Egyptian 
towns have the same light brown colour as the soil; 
there is nothing to break the uniformity of their aspect, 
no contrast of colouring ; the only arborescent vege- 
tation is the date palm dispersed in groups, or forming 
groves, but giving no shade, which can only be had 
under an occasional acacia, sycamore, or nabr, a gigantic 



LETTERS OF 



but common species of buckthorn, the small fruit 
of which is eaten by the Arabs : while the unvarying 
glare, and sameness of splendour in the sky, must soon 
fatigue and satiate the eye that has no diversity of 
scenery or of objects to turn to for relief on the earth 
beneath. The flats of Holland have more to interest 
than the Delta of the Nile ; for there one sees a 
population flourishing in plenty and comfort: here, 
nothing but a people in the lowest condition as regards 
civilization, poor, and oppressed beyond that of any 
other country. I was coniderably disappointed in the 
verdure of the Delta, of which one hears so much : the 
cultivation, such as it is, appears to occupy patches ; a 
great part of the river banks is still untilled, and either 
bare of vegetation, or producing coarse herbage, the 
nature of which I could not determine, but it is most 
monotonous in its character, and we were seldom near 
enough to the shore to ascertain the kind of crop with 
certainty. Maize seemed to be one of the most im- 
portant productions, and I remarked sugar and tobacco 
occasionally, as also cotton, but many of the crops were 
only now springing up, the Nile having so lately begun 
to subside. From the low level of the steamer's deck 
no extensive view of the Delta can be obtained. Not 
even from the flat roof of this hotel, which is of very 
considerable height, nor from the still loftier elevation 
of the citadel, which offers one of the most magnificent 
panoramas in the world, can I descry anything of that 
lake-like appearance the country is said to present at 
the season of u hio-h Nile." I had fine views of the 
Delta from the skirts of the desert on the way to Suez 
two days ago, but at an elevation much too low, and 
with a sky too hazy to distinguish objects clearly. The 
effect was that of a Dutch landscape by one of the old 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 


33 


masters, with much of that indistinctness which age 
gives to an oil painting, of a couple of centuries ago. 

We passed the Barrage, where the Nile is prevented 
by strong embankments from subsiding in the Delta till 
the irrigation of the land is complete ; and our approach 
to Boulak, the port of Cairo, did not take place till 
10, p.m. of the 25th. We landed amidst a confused 
hubbub of camels, donkeys, and vociferous and quarrel- 
some Arabs, and found Mr. Sheppard, the proprietor of 
the English Hotel at which I am staying, ready, with 
two or three omnibuses, to whirl us away along an 
excellent road bordered with thriving acacias to his 
establishment in this magnificent Square, the Usbekeih, 
about a mile and a half distant from Boulak. 

November 1st. This place is immeasurably above 
Alexandria in point of interest, as regards variety, 
comfort, and beauty ; from the flat roof of this hotel I 
have a splendid view of the city, with its thousand 
mosques and minarets ; and above all, conspicuous in 
the distance to the S.S.W,, yet seemingly close at hand, 
the mighty pyramids of Ghizeh, appearing like moun- 
tains against the pale blue sky ; but with my invaluable 
companion at my side, the telescope, I can distinctly 
bring all the ranges of stone composing them into view. 
Below me is a waving sea of foliage, from rows of fine 
acacias, ( Acacia Lebbek ), sycomores of scripture, 
(Ficus Sycomorus), and other trees, with which the fine 
esplanade is thickly planted, but there is not an atom of 
turf, scarcely a blade of grass, or weed of any kind 
beneath the trees ; all is bare ground, as in the desert — 
a poor, thin, wiry grass is only seen here and there in 
spots artificially irrigated. 

My delight is to mount the roof about sun-set, and 
watch the departing rays, bringing out the pyramids in 





c 



34 


LETTERS OF 




stronger and stronger relief as darkness approaches, till 
at length they can just be discerned as two dark masses 
like little mountains on the skirts of the desert. I have 
witnessed one or two splendid sunsets since my arrival 
in Egypt, but more frequently they have been dull and 
vapoury, the sky pale and milky by day, with dim star- 
light by night. 

To day, November 2nd, the heavens are quite over- 
spread with a thin veil of white vapour, with a faint blue 
sky, streaked and speckled with fleecy clouds, (^mackerel 
sky), here and there. We have had little else but south 
and south east winds lately, most unfavourable for tra- 
vellers going up the Nile. Accounts have just been 
received from the Red Sea of the cholera having com- 
mitted most dreadful ravages at Jeddah, the port of 
Mecca, among the pilgrims now assembled there. Cairo 
is at present quite free from the visitation. All residents 
with whom I have conversed, on the subject, are unan- 
imous in asserting that the season of greatest heat in 
Cairo, (that is, from July to September inclusive), is the 
freest of all the four from sickness of every kind, al- 
though inducing much personal discomfort ; and that the 
winter is in fact the time looked upon by the inhabit- 
ants as the least healthy, on account of the comparative 
dampness of the air, and the vicissitudes of temperature. 
Although the cool season has commenced, the heat is still 
very considerable. I have not seen it under 80° night or 
morning, and at mid-day in my room I have noted it as 
high as 83 '. As the sun now sets before half-past five, 
the union of such short days with such long hot nights 
makes one feel as if one was between the tropics, as the 
temperature just now is as high and as agreeable as in 
the West Indies. It was at 90°, I understand, at 
Alexandria a few days ago. This house is quite 



W. A BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 



35 



modern, indeed almost new, with very thick stone walls, 
but from the bad clumsy fitting, and want of finish 
about the woodwork and painting, which last is never 
"renewed after the first application, you would suppose 
the building to be a century old. The room I occupy 
is a large, airy apartment, with whitewashed walls, 
coarsely coloured in fresco below in a sort of imitation 
of panel wainscoting of a slate colour, bordered with 
dark red brown, above which is a sort of fleur-de-lys 
pattern impressed on the walls in flaming scarlet ! The 
room, which has a south aspect, is nearly a square of 
about twenty-four feet, and has an alcoved roof, very 
little, if at all, less in height from the well laid stone 
floor, and finished in a cornice and oval of unpainted 
wood, pierced in an open pattern, displaying neither 
taste nor skill in design. Three very large glazed sash 
windows nearly fill up the front side, which looks on 
the Uzbekeih, and immediately below them runs a 
raised stone dado, covered with luxurious cushions or 
divans, of blue printed calico, which with window cur- 
tains to match, a light iron bedstead with mosquito 
curtains of thin muslin, &c. &c. complete the furniture of 
my domicile, which is very comfortable at this season, but 
I suspect, must prove cold in the winter. Mr. Sheppard 
is fitting up new premises on a more extensive scale than 
these, with every convenience for English travellers. 
The charges are forty piastres per diem, six shillings 
and eight-pence, if by the week ; or fifty piastres, eight 
shillings and four-pence, for a less time. This includes 
lodging and board, which last consists of a most sub- 
stantial breakfast at half-past eight, luncheon, with 
fruit, at one, dinner, (excellent), at half-past six, with a 
cup of coffee afterwards ; but no tea, unless required, 
and paid for as an extra. 



36 


LETTERS OF 




I find Cairo an extremely amusing place, and from its 
great size, its novelties are not soon exhausted. The 
population is variously stated, from eighty thousand to 
two hundred and fifty thousand, and together with old 
Cairo and Boulak, which may be called suburbs, the 
extent of ground it covers is very great. For five 
piastres, or one shilling, I can get a donkey, (of which 
animal the choice is inexhaustible), for the whole day, on 
which, or sometimes on foot, I thread the inextricable 
labyrinth of crooked streets, lanes and alleys, of which 
the city is made up, trusting to chance to bring me into 
some familiar street, or open place from whence I can 
direct my steps homewards again. No one who has not 
visited Cairo can form an adequate idea of these strange 
thoroughfares, from the published views made from 
drawings by the cleverest artists ; because none that I 
have seen, convey any just notion of the extreme 
dinginess and dilapidation that everywhere meet the 
eye. The worst parts of London cannot be compared 
with the residences of even the respectable class of 
Cairenes. The houses are solidly built of stone, at least 
as high as the basement story, which is commonly 
pierced with low doorways, gates, and iron barred 
windows, sometimes having quaint carvings or Arabic 
inscriptions above them, but mostly very dungeon -like 
in appearance, and opening into receptacles for dust and 
rubbish, or into square courts, which give light and air 
to the residents on the next and succeeding stories, — for 
the basement is seldom or never, I believe, inhabited, 
unless it may be by the poorer classes. The part of the 
house above the basement usually projects forward on 
timber beams, and presents a confused mass of plaster, 
with windows glazed, or more commonly with a cage- 
like projection, carved or rather pierced in elaborate 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 


37 


patterns of brown unpainted wood. Some, however, of 
the principal thoroughfares are more regular, in better 
repair, and wider, and the city exhibits a variety of 
architecture that appears absolutely inexhaustible. You 
come at almost every step to some mosque, arched gate, 
or passage covered with tracery, or painted in various 
colours, and with Arabic inscriptions in fresco, or 
sculptured on the stone, for the most part in miserable 
taste and execution, but at other times in a style of 
elegance and finish, that surprises you by the taste and 
artistic skill displayed, and by the strange contrasts of 
the decorations on perhaps the same building. Some of 
the lanes or alleys are so narrow that there is barely 
room for a single donkey to squeeze himself through, 
but these are not either common or much frequented: 
very few of the streets are wider than the narrowest 
alley in London, and are always thronged with pe- 
destrians, donkeys and their riders, with horses, camels, 
and occasionally with carriages and carts. I had been led 
to suppose that much caution and circumspection were 
required in riding through the streets and lanes of 
Cairo, to avoid accidents from collision with camels and 
wheeled carriages, but I find it the easiest and safest 
thing in the world to pass through the narrowest and 
most densely crowded thoroughfares, both on foot and 
on a donkey. In the latter case the animal seems to 
know how to save you the trouble of guiding him, and 
threads his way through the crowd with an adroitness 
that is surprising, even at a full trot or amble, their only 
serious defect being that they are apt to come down 
with you sometimes, (an accident which has not yet 
happened to me), and when it does occur, is in general 
only a subject for laughter. The pace of the camel is 
so extremely slow, that though noiseless, there is very 





38 


LETTERS OF 




little difficulty in avoiding; a string of these animals on 
meeting them, but there is a possibility of their coming 
against you unawares from behind, since unless 
furnished with bells, which is not always the case, their 
tread is quite inaudible, and you might be swept off 
your donkey by the enormous loads which project from 
their sides : but I have not witnessed or heard of such 
an occurrence. The approach of a carriage is always 
announced in time to avoid it, by a courier on foot, who 
cracks a ponderous whip to clear the way. Every one 
of rank amongst the natives, on driving, or riding out 
on horseback, is preceded by a running footman, 
attired with sash or girdle, bringing to mind the act of 
Elijah girding up his loins, and running before the 
chariot of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. The 
donkeys have been called the cabs of Cairo, and truly 
the comparison holds both as to their number and 
convenience. These animals literally swarm, as they 
are used equally by high and low, and you can never be 
at a loss for one in whatever part of the town you may 
chance to find yourself, but you will have to contend 
against a host of donkey boys, each endeavouring with 
loud vociferations to force his own donkey upon your 
notice as super-eminent for all valuable asinine qualities 
above its fellows. Fortunately these creatures are not 
much given to kicking, otherwise, it might fare ill with 
the pedestrian whilst making his selection from a dozen 
or more, all hustling and jostling, head and heels turned 
towards himself, (the centre of the group), indifferently. 
Their pace, whether amble, trot, or gallop, is extremely 
easy, and the saddles are famously padded ; the pommel 
is very high and stuffed like a cushion, which in the 
event of a tumble must be a great advantage. The 
donkey boy accompanies you, to urge on the animal 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 3. 39 



with his stick, and constant cry of "oai, oai," without 
which appliances, an Egyptian donkey could no more 
be incited to active locomotion than his English breth- 
ren by those of similar import, from whom I was 
surprised to find them, after what I had heard of their 
qualities, capabilities and appearance, differ so little. 
English donkeys that have been well treated and 
looked after, I do not think are inferior to those of 
Egypt in any points of importance. The race here is 
generally of rather slighter make, the legs longer, and 
flanks thinner than at home, indicating as we should 
say, more of blood ; they are perhaps also more active, 
but are not superior in size, and require as much urging 
to make them go, when not accompanied by their 
drivers, as ours usually do. Still they are admirable 
little animals for the service they have to perform, that 
of winding their way through over crowded streets, 
where horses could not find a passage in equal numbers, 
or with equal safety. I saw a donkey the other day 
with dark stripes across the legs, as if a cross with the 
Zebra ; but as that creature does not inhabit Egypt or 
Northern Africa, the darker markings may have had 
some other origin. 



With kindest regards to all our friends, 
Believe me, 
Your affectionate Bi other, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 



40 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter IV.) 



Sheppard's Hotel, 

Usbekieh, Cairo, 

November 7th, 1850. 



My dear E 

Having returned from an expedition to the 
Pyramids yesterday, I hasten to give you a narrative of 
our proceedings to and from those wonderful structures, 
and the impression they made on my mind, whilst quite 
fresh from the visit. Amongst the passengers by the 
Austrian Lloyds vessel from Trieste, which arrived at 
Alexandria on the 3rd, was a gentleman with whom I 
got into conversation at the table d'hote here, and who 
proved to be an intimate friend and neighbour of 
Mr. L. V. H — — , and whom I recollect having met at 
W. D. a few years back. ( He and his son were intend- 
ing to see the Pyramids if possible before leaving 
Cairo, and proposed my joining them, an arrangement 
to which I readily assented, and we agreed to set off 
the same afternoon, and taking a tent and provisions 
with us, to bivouack at the Pyramids that night, and 
rise fresh for their examination at daybreak. Our train 
consisted of four donkeys for our party of three, and 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 


41 


the dragoman, besides a spare donkey, and their attend- 
ant drivers, and a horse for carrying the tent, some 
spare clothing, thick horse cloths instead of mats, a 
large chest or box for provisions, knives, forks, glasses, 
&c; the provisions consisting of cold chicken, a cold 
goose, ditto roast shoulder of mutton, bread, cheese, 
coffee, sugar and eggs, a few bottles of pale ale, one of 
water, and another of brandy. We mounted our 
donkeys about half-past four, a great deal too late in 
the day for a journey of eighteen miles, which is the 
distance of the Pyramids from Cairo during the time of 
high Nile, or the season of inundation; but we had 
been riding about the city, to the citadel, and elsewhere 

all the morning, and Mr, W had engagements that 

detained him till late in the afternoon, leaving us only 
an hour before sunset, which in this latitude, and in the 
beginning of November, happens at half-past five 
o'clock, and the twilight afterwards is not of very long 
duration. Our route lay through Old Cairo, (which 
stands on the site of the fortress of Babylon), we then 
crossed the Nile in a ferry boat to the large and 
populous village of Geezeh or Ghizeh, (Arabic names 
are spelt in various ways, and the g is either hard or 
soft according to the dialect), from whence these 
Pyramids take their names. The views on the Nile at 
Old Cairo and Geezeh are very pretty, white houses, on 
either side of the broad river, being interspersed every- 
where with trees, gardens, date groves, and the island of 
Rhoda, clad in rich cultivation, occupying the centre of 
the Nile. The way from Old to New Cairo is a fine 
broad road, planted with trees, and through one 
continuous garden of olive, fig, mulberry, castor, or 
prickly pear, &c, beneath which grow all the kinds of 
esculent vegetables for which Egypt was formerly 





42 LETTERS OF 



renowned, as leeks, onions, garlic, lentils, lettuce, beans, 
melons, and many others. After leaving Geezeh the 
daylight began to fail us, but the twilight lasted us still 
for a few miles farther, and when the new moon set, the 
Evening star shone with such brilliancy as to supply 
her place nearly as well. The roads at this season of 
the inundation ran over the broad embankment between 
the now inundated fields, which give the country the 
aspect of a vast inland sea or lake, studded with islands^ 
and intersected with isthmuses and long promontories. 
The night was beautifully clear, and deliciously cool, and 
the Pyramids were always in view, seen in deep relief 
against the sky, but for a long time we never seemed to 
approach any nearer to them. At length we unex- 
pectedly came to a spot where the weight of the w r ater 
had forced a passage through the embankment in two 
places, and made it impossible for our donkeys to 
proceed further, and we began to fear that we should 
have to pass the night on this narrow causeway, 
between two inundated tracts of land; but our drago- 
man comforted us with the assurance, that by shouting, 
and shewing our lantern, (which we did by perching 
the dragoman on the horse's back, and making him a 
living Pharos), a sailing boat would put off to the 
breach from the shore beneath the Pyramids, or from a 
village near at hand, which we could dimly descry. We 
had, however, to wait about an hour before the boat 
arrived, during which time the dew fell, and the air 
began to be chilly; but to this, our half naked Arabs 
did not appear to be in the least degree sensible. We 
amused ourselves with getting the provision chest 
unloaded from the horse, and making a good supper 
upon the contents, the chest itself serving for table and 
chairs. When the boat came, we put our tent, clothes, 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 


43 


and the above mentioned chest into it, and proceeded 
with our dragoman, who was also our cook, (Mohammed 
by name), over inundated fields, destined to become in 
a few month's time, dry and verdant with the fruits of 
the East — but now the habitation of innumerable frogs, 
and myriads of water fowl, — to the landing place beneath 
the Pyramids, which we reached about ten o'clock, p.m. 
The horse, donkeys, and donkey boys, remained under 
the open canopy of heaven at the broken down embank- 
ment till our return, about two, p.m., the next day, with 
no other covering than the scanty clothing they had on, 
which is very frequently not even as much as strict 
decency requires. 

The ascent from the usual landing place towards the 
Pyramids is long and steep. We arrived at a row of 
tombs, hewn out of the rock, still much below the 
Pyramids, close in front of which we soon found 
ourselves, and pitched our tents on the soil composed of 
debris of sepulchres, pottery, &c, mixed with sand and 
stones, and were immediately visited by the Shekh of 
the village, and his posse of chattering Arabs, whose 
vociferations never ceased for a moment, till the 
picturesque guard was set for the night, when they 
subsided into low gossiping tones that continued audible 
till I fell asleep on my horse cloth, which with a thick 
pilot cloth great coat and flannel under garments, in 
addition to the ordinary upper ones of coat, &c, I found 
insufficient wholly to ward off the cold of the desert 
air, even under the shelter of a tent, for the wind blew 
in upon us from under it all night, though not with any 
great violence. A French traveller and his party were 
encamped in another tent near us, having the tri- 
coloured flag displayed. 





44 


LETTERS OF 




The next morning we were up a little before sun-rise, 
(about half-past six), and saw that luminary emerge, 
and light up a beautiful and singular landscape, the rich 
inundated valley of the Nile, with the villages rising 
like islands out of the watery expanse, which teems 
with incredible numbers of geese and other water birds 
at this season. From our elevated position, looking 
northwards, we distinctly saw Cairo with its lofty 
citadel, and the magnificent mosque of Mohammed Ali 
crowning all ; the Pyramids were behind us, high above 
our heads, and even their tops concealed by the steep 
intervening hills of coarse sand and gravel, stones of all 
sizes, angular blocks of basalt, reddish granite, and soft 
white limestone rock on which the Pyramids stand, and 
of which they are mainly composed, pebbles of agate, 
rounded by attrition, fragments of pottery, (coarse red 
earth er ii ware ), ibis vases, human and other bones, and 
a strange assemblage of debris, belonging to different 
epochs and formations, amongst which is one having a 
volcanic appearance like lava or tufa, and very de- 
composable, whilst portions of the white limestone 
which is soft enough to be cut with a knife, are a 
complete mass of shells. I also picked up near the 
Pyramids of Cephrenes fragments of a hard rock of a 
violet or even puce colour, of which I saw no block of 
any size. As soon as the sun had risen we toiled up to 
the base of the greater pyramid. To say that it came 
up to, or fell short of, or exceeded my expectations of its 
magnitude, would not express the impression I received 
from its contemplation, and that of the whole group, so 
unlike did I find the reality to all the representations I 
have seen of these enormous structures. Their exterior 
is far more rude and rugged, from time and wilful 
spoliation than I had any conception of ; and I can 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 


1 

45 


compare them, on a close approach, to nothing so much 
as to the products of some vast stone quarry, shaped 
into roughly squared blocks, broken and chipped in the 
process, and piled into a huge pyramid for convenience 
of transport, or use upon the spot. So great is their 
magnitude, that at a very moderate distance, say half a 
mile or less, the dilapidation of the courses of stone 
becomes almost invisible, and the pyramidal outline 
stands forth in all the symmetrical regularity which 
these structures possessed when their casing was entire, 
and as they appear in drawings and prints of them 
taken from a distance. They are chiefly built of a 
greyish or yellowish white limestone, easily cut with a 
knife, and approaching in texture to indurated chalk of 
the Freshwater cliffs, not indeed quite so soft, but 
almost as white, and of different degrees of hardness, 
often full of shells. I brought away pieces of the 
great pyramid of Cheops, and specimens of the mortar 
or cement used to unite them, which is harder than 
the stone itself. Mr. W — — , who seems quite an 
antiquary, could see nothing in the Pyramids but what 
was matter for wonder and astonishment, and like the 
rest of his brethren, professed to find deep skill and 
science in the architectural details. To myself, they 
seem very inartificial structures, requiring only a 
knowledge of the common principles of levelling, and 
the application of the most ordinary mechanical means, 
to rear them. With the exception of the vast granite 
blocks that form the entrance and the walls of the 
interior chambers, the extreme softness of the limestone 
offered great facility to the workmen employed on 
that material for the courses ; and as to the raising 
and placing these blocks in situ, I had, long before 
I saw them, doubted the supposed difficulty of that 





46 


LETTERS OF 




process, on which people are so fond of expatiating. 
In this doubt I am more than ever confirmed, by 
observing on the spot the great inferiority of these 
blocks in regard to size, to the exaggerated accounts 
usually given by travellers of their enormous di- 
mensions, which are in truth, no greater than those of 
similar blocks in ordinary use for our own solid public 
works, and vastly smaller than the gigantic masses 
employed in the Breakwater at Plymouth. It would 
not be fair to charge the manifest inequality of size as 
a defect in stones intended to be hidden from view by a 
solid exterior casing, such as there seems no doubt, 
once encrusted the Pyramids, and of which a part still 
remains in good preservation about the summit of the 
second pyramid, or that of Cephrenes ; but this casing 
would appear to have been after all, but a mere coating 
of stucco or concrete. The cement has worked Out 
from between most of the blocks, leaving them in a 
degree disconnected, and numbers of them are dis- 
placed wholly or partially, or have fallen to the bottom, 
and have shivered into those fragments which compose 
the very soil for a great distance around the base of 
the Pyramids. No one will contend that there is any 
beauty whatever in these structures ; even when 
perfect, they could have had none, and yet they must 
be objects of surpassing interest to any person possess- 
ing a spark of imagination. 

At first we contented ourselves with such a glance at 
them as could be got by ascending the steep hill on 
which that of Cheops and Cephrenes stand ; for being 
on the point of commencing the ascent, the keen 
morning air reminded us that we had not breakfasted : 
so in spite of the vociferations of the Arabs who act as 
guides, and who hovered around us like a swarm of 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 


47 


bees, worrying us at every step with their impertinent 
importunities, we returned to our tent, where we found 
our trusty Mohammed busily engaged in preparing a 
substantial breakfast of omelettes and excellent Mocha 
coffee, which being dispatched, we returned to the 
great Pyramid to make the ascent in earnest, having 
before only stood on the lowermost course or two of 
stones, and satisfied ourselves of the truth of the 
assertion, that the vast size of the Pyramids is only 
apparent when you are in actual contact with them ; at 
the distance of even a few hundred yards they lose half 
of their really gigantic proportions. Another pe- 
culiarity about them, and which I have not seen noticed 
by any traveller, is, that when you approach within a 
hundred yards or less of the Pyramid, the fore-short- 
ening of the sloping face of the side you are looking 
on, has the curious effect to the eye of a perpendicular 
wall of rough masonry, tapering to a point of course, 
but all idea of its forming one side of a pyramid is 
dispelled by this illusive appearance. Excepting from 
their extremely dilapidated condition, the Pyramids 
convey no impression of antiquity : for in this climate, no 
moss or lichen seems capable of existing, and the stones 
might have been piled up within the memory of a child, 
for any of those indications of age which the lower 
tribes of vegetation in damper regions impart to 
masonry through lapse of time ; the colour of the stone 
is as light and fresh as if just quarried. 

I had no idea that the Pyramids stood on so elevated 
a site ; I do not know the elevation, but you look down 
from the table land at their base into the plain of the 
Nile below, as if from the summit of a very high cliff ; 
indeed, their situation was one of the points on which 
my pre-conceived notions were completely at variance 





48 


LETTERS OF 




with the fact, nor have I ever seen any drawings that 
give a just idea of the position of the Pyramids and 
the scenery around them. The deeply undulating 
surface exhibits a scene of utter desolation, not a blade 
of grass springs upon, nor does the faintest tint of green 
enliven the pale brownish white waste, composed of 
debris and coarse sandy gravel, mixed with fragments 
of pottery, and human bones thrown out from the 
tombs. The ascent and descent of the great Pyramid 
has often been described as an arduous undertaking ; it 
is certainly somewhat tiring, but I found both going up 
and coming down, very far easier than I expected, and 
excepting perhaps for ladies, it is no achievement at all. 
With by no means a strong head for climbing dizzy 
heights, I found I could look down from any part of the 
ascent without the least feeling whatever of giddiness, 
and should infinitely have preferred being allowed to 
scale the Pyramids unattended, and to have taken my 
own time in the ascent ; but that, the officious im- 
portunate Arabs would never allow strangers to do, as 
they would thereby lose a chance of getting Bakscheesh 
from him, were he simple enough to comply with their 
demands, which are almost incessant from the moment 
he arrives, to the instant he leaves the Pyramids. To a 
person in good health, the chief, if not the only source 
of fatigue in ascending, consists in the rapidity with 
which he scrambles to the summit, urged on by the 
Arabs, who will not allow him a moment's rest, but 
continue pulling and pushing him up the successive 
courses of stones ; when if he were allowed quietly and 
deliberately to select his own footing, he might reach 
the summit nearly as fresh as when he began to mount. 
The ascent is generally made at the north east angle, 
and the blocks are mostly so broken and disjointed, that 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 



49 



in the space of a few yards of every course, there is sel- 
dom wanting a place for the feet to enable the climber to 
get on to the course next above him, without being 
obliged to raise himself up the whole height of the block, 
and wear out his knees in planting them on the top of the 
range : but the Arabs insist on taking you up partly by 
this exertion on your own side, partly by the pulling 
and pushing process on theirs, under the idea that your 
vanity will be gratified by arriving at the platform 
before any other of your companions. A considerable 
portion of the angle is broken away about two-thirds 
from the top, and here travellers generally halt for a 
few minutes to take breath, if the guides will let them, 
before completing the ascent. The descent, often 
pictured as quite formidable compared with the ascent, 
I found mere child's play, and arrived at the entrance 
of the pyramid some minutes before my two com- 
panions, by jumping off each course to the one beneath, 
where a broken part did not present a convenient step 
for the foot. The day was, as every day has been, 
uninterrupted sunshine ; the cool season had just set in, 
and has since continued, after a summer of unpre- 
cedented heat and duration, up to the present date, 
(November 8th) ; a fine north breeze blew freshly the 
whole day, and my two companions allowed that they 
felt no fatigue or oppression in several hours rambling 
on the arid shadeless soil, in the full blaze of the sun, 
so temperate were his rays. 

The view from the top of the great pyramid, lighted 
up by a bright sun, which is rarely obscured for a mo- 
ment, is glorious. From north to south, and at our feet, 
stretched the broad green valley of the Nile, its surface 
like a sea with promontories and isthmuses, shooting 
into and across it, with villages, palm groves, and 

i 



50 


LETTERS OF 




exuberant tracts of cultivation rising from the bright 
placid surface which is alive with countless multitudes 
of wild fowl, geese, cranes, ibises, pelicans, &c. over 
which numerous birds of prey, falcons, kites, and vul- 
tures, with which Egypt pre-eminently abounds, are 
constantly soaring. Beyond the limits of the inun- 
dation, and on either side of the river stretched the 
great Lybian desert, its unbounded and unvaried surface 
of brownish white sand raised by the wind into long 
ridges, or broken into shorter undulations, and the 
whole resembling a vast ocean in every thing but colour, 
agitated and swelling into billows. I ought however to 
add, that ranges of hills of white limestone, the same as 
that of which the Pyramids are built, are visible on the 
north and south, being part of a chain terminating in the 
Bed Sea at Suez, and of which the Mokattan hills also 
behind Cairo are a portion. These hills seem to run 
parallel with the Nile and its principal branches on the 
side of the desert, and were possibly at one period its 
boundaries. We remained on the top for perhaps an 
hour or more, during all which time our guides would 
hardly allow us a moment's peace, through the re- 
iterated clamour for Baksheesh, and to have the word 
given for descending from this, and mounting to the 
top of the adjoining pyramid of Cephrenes in five 
minutes, which one of them actually accomplished in 
four minutes and a half, in our sight. The distance 
between the two Pyramids, which are of nearly equal 
height, appears to be about two hundred yards, and 
the angles of each are exactly opposite one another. 
Two of our most active Arabs, on promise of a few 
piastres as Baksheesh, started for the race, running down 
the angle of the vast incline like cats, and quickly 
disappeared from view, till on gaining the base, they 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 



51 



were again seen coursing over the rough stony ground, 
during which run, one of them divested himself of every 
fragment of his scanty clothing, and in a few moments 
of time was scaling the second pyramid, and was 
reduced by distance to so pigmy a size that I repeatedly 
lost sight of him if I took my eyes off him for a 
moment, and I always had much difficulty to find him 
again, although he never could for an instant be hidden 
by any intervening object. The apex of the pyramid is 
covered with the remains of the original casing, yet 
over this comparatively smooth surface the man con- 
trived to clamber with the facility of a cat, and a 
moment after was seen waving his arms on the summit. 
He then descended the second Pyramid, and re-ascended 
the first, and as rapidly joined us again on the platform. 
The extreme softness of the stone offers great facility to 
those aspirants to such fame as can be secured through 
after ages by the simple agency of an inscription, and I 
am ashamed to say that I yielded to the national 
propensity, and found time to carve in large and deep 
letters the initials W. A. B. on the face of one of the 
altar-like blocks that occupy the centre of the platform, 
but could not add the date before our party proposed 
descending to view the interior. 

The entrance may be perhaps at one third of the 
total height of the pyramid from the ground, and the 
descent into the passage leading to the great chamber, 
and the subsequent ascent to the latter, is the only 
arduous part of the undertaking, and it may justly be 
termed so ; as for ladies, it is really a serious affair, and 
rather an awkward one for any person. The descent to 
the mouth of the passage is itself exceedingly steep and 
slippery, being composed of huge granite blocks in- 
clining inwards and downwards at a pitch as sharp as 



52 


LETTERS OF 




the roof of any house, and nothing to hold on by. The 
first part of the passage is extremely low and narrow, 
but it widens and increases greatly in height, becoming 
at the same time, so excessively steep, that the com- 
bined support of the guides is required to prevent your 
sliding back, an event which would prove fatal, as the 
length of the incline is so great that a light at either 
end appears to be a star, as in the gallery of a mine, 
and at the lower extremity of this inclined passage is a 
sudden perpendicular fall of at least six feet, I should 
say, seven or eight, with very rugged sides, which I 
found a nervous business to surmount on returning, as 
the guides could hardly find footing for themselves 
whilst having to support each person of our party, and 
literally to lift him down. In one part of the incline 
you have to walk along a narrow ledge for several 
yards, not above a foot wide from the perpendicular 
face of the wall, and having a deep, rugged, and very 
slanting way below you on the right hand. On this 
ledge the Arabs enable you to walk by holding you by 
the arms, but I could not altogether overcome the 
feeling of insecurity, as there is not any projection 
whatever to lay hold of, and the stone you tread on is 
quite smooth, which with the precipitous character of 
the ascent, gives the appearance of some danger to the 
undertaking. I would strongly advise no nervous lady, 
and perhaps I might add, no nervous man, to attempt 
visiting the interior of the great pyramid, for after all, 
there is very little to be seen, and that little can be 
conveyed by description nearly as well as by a personal 
view. The lights furnished by our Arab guides were 
utterly insufficient to show us the size, proportions, and 
colours of the chamber in which the sarcophagus stands. 
We could only see by shifting our position, portions of 



W. A, BR OMFIELD. — No. 4. 


53 


the walls, and a dim discovery of the roof by holding 
up the candles : all else was one deep black vacuity of 
darkness ; with a stagnant suffocating atmosphere, never 
under 80°, and never renewed by ventilation : the only 
changes of air coming in and going out by the same 
long confined passage, which is the sole entrance to this 
sepulchral chamber. We found no bats in it, at least if 
there were any, they did not show that they were at all 
disturbed by our entrance, and we noticed nothing of 
their remains, at which I was surprised, having heard 
that they abounded so much in the interior of the great 
Pyramid ; but we found them in swarms in the adjoining 
sepulchral grottos hewn in the rock that forms the 
area around the second Pyramid. We saw so little of 
the first or lowest chamber, and found the dust and 
closeness so disagreeable and oppressive, and the in- 
cessant importunities of the Arabs for Baksheesh, at this 
stage of their conductorship, so intolerable, that we 
agreed not to visit the second or upper chamber, as not 
likely to repay the toil of the ascent. Whilst looking, 
or rather, groping about in the chamber, I inadvertently 
stepped into an opening leading downwards from the 
floor to some passage below, and had not an Arab guide 
been most providentially close at my elbow, (no doubt 
teasing me at the moment for Baksheesh), who caught 
me by the arm, and just saved me in time, my fall 
would have been a most serious, if not fatal one. The 
light held over the spot disclosed a very awkward 
looking cavity, sloping down at an abrupt angle, which 
the pitchy darkness prevented me entirely from seeing. 
I gave the old Arab a special token of my gratitude for 
his timely succour in the hour of danger ; but from the 
moment of the accident, till we quitted the pyramid, 
he showed constant fear that his services would be 





54 


LETTERS OF 




unrequited^ (as by an Arab, they certainly would have 
been), and continued to remind me of the aid he had 
rendered, till I was sick of hearing about it. We made 
it a rule to reserve all payments and gratuities for our 
return to the tent, and to the very last moment before 
striking it, and to shew not even a para to the guides, as 
their importunities for Baksheesh would have been re- 
doubled at the sight of the smallest coin. As regards 
robbery by open violence, or even intimidation, there is 
not the slightest danger in visiting the Pyramids noiv, 
whatever risk there might have been formerly ; the shew- 
ing these structures being at the present day carried on 
in a perfectly systematic manner, the right being a vest- 
ed one of doing so, and the Shekh, or chief of the village, 
being answerable to government for the security of 
visitors; but pilfering may happen, and should be 
guarded against, by keeping watch on the pockets, and 
by having a trustworthy dragoman always about the 
personal baggage, &c. On leaving the great Pyramids 
of Cheops, we proceeded to view (the exteriors only), 
those of Cephrenes, Belzoni, and the fourth and far 
smaller one of Colonel Yyse, a description of which is 
of course unnecessary. This examination occupied us 
several hours, and we did not start for Cairo till 2 p.m. 
The day was heavenly, and though the sun shone out 
unclouded, not one of us felt his rays, to which we were 
fully exposed, in the least degree oppressive, even after 
all our climbing, and disturbed rest the night before. 

The Pyramid of Cephrenes stands in the centre of a 
vast square or court, two sides of which are nearly 
perfect and form a series of tombs hewn in the solid 
rock with many curious inscriptions in hieroglyphics, 
besides bas-reliefs, some of which are in excellent 
preservation, and the figures of a few, representing 



W. A. BROMFIELD.—Nq. 4. 


55 


oxen and other animals, extremely well designed. The 
two other sides of the square are distinctly traceable, 
but much encumbered by mounds of rubbish, and 
consist of arched tombs and sepulchres of solid 
masonry, here and there in very good preservation ; but 
the pyramid they surround is in as dilapidated a state 
as that of Cheops, excepting the small portion of casing 
which remains at the top tolerably entire. The third 
pyramid, that called after Belzoni, is of very inferior 
size, but at the base it is partly cased with red granite 
in excellent preservation, and around it lie many granite 
blocks, together with fragments of columns, and sculp- 
tured stones, which must have been the remains of some 
building of wholly different architecture. The interior 
of this Pyramid has been opened up and examined by 
Belzoni. The fourth Pyramid is of very much smaller 
dimensions, and is surrounded by, or at least stands in 
a court or enclosure of tombs like that of Cephrenes, 
and its interior, Dr. Abbott tells me, is very interesting 
in an antiquarian point of view. All around the 
Pyramids are deep mummy pits, and about mid-way 
between the Pyramid of Cephrenes and the Sphinx, we 
saw lying on the sand two lids of sarcophagi sculptured 
as mummies, one of which was in the most beautiful 
preservation imaginable, and covered with hieroglyphics : 
they were both of blue or dove coloured marble, the 
second somewhat injured. We also saw a very large 
tomb which had been excavated from the drift sand and 
rubbish by Colonel Vyse, but we could not gain access 
to it. 

The Sphinx I found with the features much more 
mutilated than is generally represented in public ac- 
counts; indeed, very few lineaments of the human 
face remain, and viewed from behind, the head has a 





56 



LETTERS OF 



grotesque, almost ludicrous aspect, like an immense bob 
wig : but the front view of this wonderful structure is 
very striking : it is wonderful only however from its 
colossal size, for the stone is the same with that 
composing the Pyramids, and extremely soft. I search- 
ed carefully for some small memorial of antiquity, a 
scarabaeus, or mummy of glass or earthenware, but 
could pick up nothing, although the Arabs have 
innumerable relics of the kind for sale at very low 
prices, which Dr. Abbott says are really genuine in 
most cases, and not, as asserted, manufactured in Eng- 
land on speculation. 

^ ^ ^? 

Believe me, always, 

Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 



(Letter V.) 

Cairo, 
November Uth, 1850. 

My dear E ■ 

I am afraid there will be but little chance of any 
letter reaching you from me for perhaps four months to 
come ; I have arranged to form one of a party of three 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 5. 57 



to go up the Nile at the end of this week ; we propose 
to pass up at least as high as the second cataract, and 
should we find it practicable, to ascend the river still 
higher in Nubia. We calculate on being absent from 
Cairo three or four months. 

My companions are Lieutenant Pengelly, and a 
young naval friend of his, Mr. Lakes, both on leave of 
absence for health. We have bargained for an excellent 
boat, with the owner, an Englishman of the name of 
Page, who has consented to let us have it at £ 22 per 
month. We take a crew of eight Arabs, including the 
cook, and the Reis or captain, a trusty man in Page's 
employ, who has been up the river at least a dozen 
times. Our expenses during the voyage, hire of boat, 
and living included, will be about £ 10 or £ 12 per 
month, each, which is cheaper than we can live for at 
this hotel, where the charges are about £15 per month, 
exclusive of out door expenses. Our boat has just 
been newly painted and repaired, and made per- 
fectly clean, which might not have been done by an 
Arab or Egyptian owner; the three cabins are very 
nicely fitted up with soft divans, glazed windows and 
Venetian blinds, and there is a small apartment in the 
stern. We rode down on Saturday to Boulak to inspect 
it, and were much pleased with its appearance. I 
expect to be close upon, and most likely within, the 
tropics before the shortest day, and so escape the cold 
of Cairo, which every one agrees in saying, is severely 
felt at mid-winter from the ill construction of the 
houses, the want of fire places, and the comparatively 
humid atmosphere. At present the climate is glorious, 
the cool season has regularly succeeded the unusually 
protracted heat, and the thermometer is now in my 
apartment at, or a little under, 70° at 8 a.m., or ten 



! 



58 


LETTERS OF 




degrees less than it was a week ago, whilst the mornings 
and evenings are: too cool to be quite pleasant. I find 
additional bedclothes necessary, and many of the 
natives have put on their winter garments. Still, the 
weather is quite warm through the day, fogs and mists 
arising about sunset, which chill the air, and dispose to 
colds and coughs. Barring a slight cold in the head, 
picked up I suppose in the tent at the Pyramids, I am 
remarkably well, and enjoy the delightful warmth and 
perpetual sunshine amazingly. 

I have made several very agreeable acquaintances in 
this city; Mr, Leider, of the Church Missionary 
Society, Mr. Trail, late of the Rhodes Gardens, who is 
very kind and attentive ; Dr. Abbott, a zealous 
Egyptian antiquary, by whom I was invited to come 
and dine a la Turc, but which mode of eating a dinner, 
I never wish to repeat. Mr. Trail introduced me to the 
reading room of the Egyptian Society, where there is a 
valuable collection of books relating to Egypt, which I 
can go and consult at any time. Cairo itself is an 
endless source of amusement, and I have not yet seen a 
hundredth part of its interminable lanes, courts, alleys, 
and picturesque buildings. I have been in three 
mosques, where ten or fifteen years ago, a christian 
could hardly have found access without a special firman, 
and might then have been insulted when he entered; 
now, things are so altered, that they do not in all the 
mosques even insist on the infidels taking off their shoes 
at the entrance, although that is rigorously kept up as 
respects moslems, in the more especially tidy ones. In 
most mosques large loose slippers are kept for visitors 
to put on over their shoes. Two days ago, we went to 
see the dancing dervishes practise their ludicrous 
religious ceremonies in their mosques, which they do 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 5. 


59 


every Friday. Each moslem who entered scrupulously 
left his shoes at the door, whilst we, giaours, who 
formed a large party, were permitted to desecrate the 
holy pavement with our boots and shoes, and stranger 
still, two or three unveiled English ladies went with us, 
and were quietly permitted to take their places with 
the gentlemen, while not a single native woman was on 
the floor of the mosque, but they might be seen in 
numbers peering through the bars of the small windows 
in the dome upon the devotees and heretics assembled 
1 there. 

Cairo, November 15th, We are fast getting every 
! thing ready on board the boat that is to be our floating 
1 home for the next three months, and expect to com- 
mence our voyage on Wednesday the 20th. We trust 
to escape the disagreeable, though not intense cold of a 
Cairene winter. I find sudden changes of temperature 
here in the mornings and evenings, from 80° to 60°, or 
lower in the open air, and two days back with a smart 
shower, succeeded by drizzling mist. Although the 
Nile water has ceased to disagree with me, I cannot join 
in the encomiums bestowed on it, as being the most 
delicious water in the world, for independently of its 
thickness, it has to me, even when filtered, a sensible 
taste, which the Alexandrian had not, and which is not 
improved, either in reality or ideally by transportation 
in the unsavoury looking skin, (that of the entire 
animal, the head excepted), in which it is carried to the 
consumer's premises. Such bottles are usually said to 
be goat skins, but from the great size of many, I suspect 
they are as often those of donkeys, if not of other 
animals, very disgusting looking vehicles for one's daily 
drink, but use has already reconciled me to the thought 
that every drop of water I swallow has been in contact 





60 


LETTERS OF 




with these primitive casks, Cairo is an exceedingly 
entertaining place, and the absolute certainty of scarcely 
a day's interruption to the bright sunny weather greatly 
enhances the enjoyment of perambulating it. The 11th 
ultimo was the first day that was completely overcast, 
like a November day at home ; the rest were bright and 
clear, as usual. 

If you have not read Lane's " Modern Egyptians," 
pray do, it is an admirably minute and correct picture of 
the Cairenes, so esteemed at least by every one here. 
Will you set Wacey to work to procure for me a most 

fldmirflhlp li thocrranh* of thp crrpnt "Pwarnifl r>f CThpfvn«! 

it is so exact a likeness of that structure, that I shall be 

VtJiy ^IdU. LU Ildvt; 1L LU Ildllg lip lUI ci IcIIlcIUUIcillCt;. 

# # * # 




Believe me, 




lour anectionate .Brother, 




William Arnold Bromeield. 




(Letter YL) 




On board the Nile boat, Mary Victoria, 




On the river, 20 or 30 miles South of Cairo, 




luesaay^ isovemoer zotfi, loOU. 




My dear E 




I am now fairly afloat with Lieutenant Pengelly 
and Mr. Lakes in our aquatic habitation, and probable 




* The great Pyramid from the North East taken by the Camera Lucida, 
and done on stone by Edward Lane, 1830, folio, lithograph, coloured, 
published by J. Dickenson, 114, New Bond Street. 



W. A. BR OMFIEL D. — No. 6. 


61 


domicile for three or perhaps four months to come. We 
feel already quite at home, and exceedingly comfortable 
in the Mary Victoria, and hitherto have had very little 
experience of the usual annoyances which travellers on 
the Nile complain of. To our great joy we have 
escaped the insect disturbers of rest, though we have 
received terrific accounts of their numbers and prowess 
on the Nile, and the only intruders on our domestic 
peace, are a small family of rats, and a colony of 
cockroaches, both confining themselves to the lockers 
and timbers of the boat, and never appearing, at 
least by day, in any part of the vessel where their 
presence would be a source of personal annoyance, and 
our well arranged mosquitoe curtains would effectually 
exclude these, and every other nocturnal visitor from 
the beds. We found in Mr. Page, the owner of the 
boat, a very fair dealing and honourable man, who has 
spared no pains to render our voyage comfortable as far 
as the appointments of the Mary Victoria are concerned, 
and we consider ourselves as very fortunate in not 
having had to deal with an Arab owner, with whom a 
contract drawn up in very express terms in Arabic, and 
signed at the Consulate, would have been absolutely 
necessary ; a proceeding both troublesome and attend- 
ed with some expense, and one which rarely effects the 
purpose in view, of obviating any dispute or misunder- 
standing between the contracting parties, as the Arab 
boat proprietors seldom stand by the written engage- 
ment, but are ever ready to seize an opportunity of 
evading the conditions to which they have subscribed, 
and to take every advantage in their power of the 
ignorance and inexperience of tourists. We have a 
very young crew or eight men, (including the Keis or 
captain, and the steersman), docile, good humoured 





62 LETTERS OF 



fellows from Nubia or Ethiopia, with mild, honest 
countenances, who seem as happy as kings, and amuse 
us with their simple boat song, or rather chant, and 
performances on the small drum of the country, and on 
the tambourine^. We have each of us a servant, having 
dispensed altogether with our dragoman, who is almost 
invariably a dishonest, or at least imposing fellow, very 
consequential, and unmanageable, and who requires 
many times the amount of wages given to a single 
Arab domestic. Saad, my own man, acts as cook on 
board, and serves us in that capacity very creditably; his 
wages are 200 piastres or about £2 per month for his 
double official duties, finding himself in food, and every 
thing besides during the voyage. These, with our three 
selves compose a little community of fourteen, Lieu- 
tenant P. assuming the supreme command of the crew 
and vessel, subject to the advice and opinion of the Eeis 
on matters relating to local navigation ; the latter, not- 
withstanding his extreme youth, conducting himself to- 
wards his people with wonderful dignity of deportment, 
never mixing in their games or songs, but generally 
sitting retired at the head of the boat, watching her 
progress, and ready to give his orders when necessary. 

Mr. Lakes not being well enough to accompany 
Mr. Pengelly and myself to the Barrage — a vast under- 
taking of the late Mohammed Ali, for damming up the 
waters of the Nile when at their height, and retaining 
them on the irrigated lands of the Delta longer than 
the time of their natural subsidence would allow of, — 
that gentleman and myself left Cairo in the boat on 
the 21st for the junction of the Kosetta and Damietta 
branches of the Nile where the above works are situ- 
ated. We caught sight of them before sunset, but 
could not examine them till the next day: they are 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 6. 


63 


on a scale of great magnitude, but their ultimate com- 
pletion, from the enormous expenses already incurred, 
and the sum which wall be required to finish the under- 
taking, is considered very doubtful, particularly when 
the careless, unenterprising character of Abbas Pasha is 
taken into account, as another impediment to carrying 
out his predecessor's grand conception. The Barrage is 
as its name imports, a vast dam of masonry, stretching 
across the two principal branches of the Nile, (those of 
Kosetta and Damietta), just at their point of junction 
with, or confluence into the main stream which forms 
the apex of the Delta. It is in fact an immense bridge 
of numerous slightly pointed arches, and with towers at 
its extremities, the arches are to be closed with flood 
gates to admit the Nile freely during the period of its 
rise, but, as I understand it, are to be partially closed 
when the inundation is at its height, and the river 
begins to fall ; when the water in that part of the valley 
of the Nile above the Barrage w T ill be longer retained 
on the irrigated lands, the fertility of which it is 
supposed will thereby be much augmented. But it is 
doubted by many competent judges, whether any 
barrier, however solidly constructed, can resist the 
enormous pressure to which it must inevitably be sub- 
jected, especially during the period of the high Nile or 
inundation. It is feared that no sufficiently good 
foundation can be made in the bed of soft alluvium, 
even should the superstructure itself prove firm enough 
to stem the current, and the weight of accumulated 
water when the sluices are closed. The works are not 
yet half completed, but are slowly going on by forced 
and ill paid labour, as in all other Government under- 
takings of the kind in this country. Having inspected 
the Barrage, we set off on our return to Cairo, and 





64 


LETTERS OF 




passing the port of Boulak, we took up our position 
under the beautiful island of Rhoda, with its fine, but 
now half ruined gardens, over which I was not long 
since conducted, by the late curator, Mr. James Trail. 
Rhoda is reputed to be the spot where the daughter of 
Pharoah went to wash herself at the river when she 
discovered the infant Moses ; the island lies partly- 
opposite to Old Cairo, and consequently nearly on the 
site of ancient Memphis, and has the Nilo-meter on its 
smaller extremity. The tradition carries plausibility 
with it, since Rhoda was, probably, from time imme- 
morial a garden residence, and from its retired situation 
well suited for the ablutions of a king's daughter. 

Mr. L. joined us on the 23rd, and the next day, we 
were fairly on our long voyage up the " river of Egypt," 
which has hitherto proved most prosperous and 
agreeable. My two companions are perfect gentlemen, 
quiet, and yet very cheerful, disposed to make the best 
of every thing, and anticipating great enjoyment for the 
future. We all feel as much at home in our little 
floating castle, as if we were ashore, or in Old England ; 
the winds have hitherto been propitious, enabling us to 
make sail during the night, and to steal softly into ever 
increasing warmth, at least by day; for the mornings, 
evenings, and nights, are very cold : but the glorious 
sun is never obscured except for a brief interval, per- 
haps once in a week, by some fleeting cloud, shining 
else unceasingly over our watery path. Within, we are 
amply protected from the cold of the night, by good 
bedding, clothing, and folding doors, and when the 
mosquitoe curtains, whose nominal office is now quite a 
sinecure, are arranged by our trusty squires, Saad, 
Mohammed, and Ameen, for the night, each sleeping 
place is as private and retired as if we slept in separate 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 6. 65 



apartments. I have the utmost cause for self gratulation 
in having brought out a gun with me : it has proved an 
admirable adjunct to our trip, not merely from the 
amusement derived from shooting, but as a means of 
replenishing our larder, daily, with every variety of 
excellent fowl ; while our stock of poultry on board is 
reserved against the failure of game, and we are not, as 
we should otherwise be, condemned to that kind of food 
almost exclusively. It is only occasionally, on arriving at 
the towns or larger villages, that we can hope for the 
luxury of butchers' meat, mutton, kid, or as a great 
rarity, beef, all of inferior quality to what we are 
accustomed to at home. Without our guns, we never 
set foot on shore, and invariably return from our walks 
through the palm groves and fertile fields of Egypt, 
with the materials for our morrow's breakfast and 
dinner. The spoils of the chase have hitherto been 
confined to wild pigeons, wild geese, ducks, and larks, 
which last are as common as in England, and exactly 
identical in species with our skylark, which we should 
hold it a sin to shoot at home; but here, we find it 
expedient to cast away all such scruples in providing for 
our daily mess. The crew are delighted with our 
foraging, as we are enabled to supply the second table 
as well as our own with game, which is a welcome 
addition to their simple and frugal diet of bread, lent el 
soup, (the red pottage of Esau), or certain messes of 
vegetables, leeks, onions, cabbage, with rice, or corn of 
various kinds ; the Nile water being their only beverage. 
We invariably land at the Egyptian villages, many of 
which are large and populous, to shoot doves and 
pigeons ; the former abound in the extensive palm (date) 
groves, in the vicinity of the cultivated lands, and they 
commit great depredation on the maize and guinea corn : 



E 



66 


LETTERS OF 




the latter are domesticated in huge pigeon houses, of 
which I have before spoken. I am sorry to say our 
travelling countrymen do not always observe the rights 
of property, but make a practice of shooting pigeons, 
heedless of the remonstrances of the pacific inhabitants, 
who are afraid of making more energetic demonstrations 
of disapprobation. We never molest the pigeons in the 
villages, but to shoot any stray birds outside, however 
near to the houses, is considered perfectly fair, and is 
never objected to by the people, who invariably behave 
to us with civility, as we stroll amongst their huts of 
mud or unburnt brick. The children it is true, some- 
times run away at the sight of us giaours, and the dread 
of the evil eye is occasionally manifested by an ex- 
pression of impatience from the women, if we indulge 
in a stare of curiosity or speculation at them or their 
occupations, but the dread and dislike of the Frank is 
fast wearing away, not in Cairo only, but all along the 
river ; and the probability is, that before many years 
shall have elapsed, the British voyagers on the Nile will 
be regarded by the dwellers along its banks, as their 
best, and certainly their most profitable friends. 

It is said that the ultimate occupation of Egypt by 
the English is looked forward to with considerable 
confidence by the Cairenes, and that they express much 
satisfaction at the prospect. It is certain we shall 
never relinquish the hold we have on their country 
without a struggle, and that we can never permit any 
of the great European powers, France, Russia, or 
Austria, to gain a footing in Egypt, as the safety of our 
Indian empire would be fearfully compromised by 
foreign occupation of this country, if it did not even- 
tuate in its loss. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 6. 



67 



Minieh, lat. 28. 7. 3 December 2nd. A week's sailing 
with light airs and calms, and an occasionally favourable 
breeze, has brought us thus far on our voyage, nearly 
half way to the great centre of attraction, Thebes ; a 
degree of progress we owe to the unwearied exertions 
of our willing and light hearted crew of Nubians, in 
tracking during the day ; for at night we generally now 
make fast to the banks till daybreak, unless the wind 
should be propitious, when we keep under sail all night, 
or a part of it. 

December 5th, Left Minieh this forenoon with a 
favourable breeze from the northwards, having been 
detained much longer than we intended by an accident 
to Mr. Lakes, who, when shooting very early on Tues- 
day morning with a Maltese gentleman, received a shot 
from the latter intended for a snipe, 27 corns entering 
in various parts of his person, and one striking the left 
eye, and wounding the white, a very short distance 
only from the transparent cornea, which happily escaped 
an injury that must have infallibly destroyed the sight 
of that eye. The pain at the moment, Mr. Lakes de- 
scribes as so intense, that he imagined the shot had 
pierced his brain, and he fell involuntarily on receiving 
it. On recovering, he found that he could not see at all 
with the wounded eye : he managed to reach the boat, 
a distance of several miles from the spot where the 
accident occurred, partly on foot, partly on a donkey, 
and presented himself before us whilst we were at 
breakfast, informing us, with a smile on his countenance, 
of what had happened, and exhibiting to Mr. Pengelly 
and myself, an alarming appearance, his face being 
perforated with several shot, and the left eye closed. 
Fortunately Minieh is the residence of a European 
district surgeon, who being a friend of the Maltese, 



68 


LETTERS OF 




whose mal-adroitness caused this distressing event, was 
immediately in our boat, and on examination, found the 
eye wounded as above related. He prescribed a lotion 
of acetate of lead, constantly applied, and then a poult- 
ice of linseed, intending to bleed his patient, should 
inflammatory symptoms shew themselves : but most 
fortunately, the previously lowered system of Mr. Lakes 
was little disposed to take such inflammatory action, 
and contrary to all expectation, he passed the night free 
from any pain worth speaking of, and has ever since 
been going on as well as could be wished. The sight of 
the eye is much obscured, but it is to be hoped that in 
a few days, the troubled humours in the ball will be 
absorbed, and replaced by others of the usual trans- 
parency, there being no reason to apprehend the 
smallest injury to the optic nerve. Mr. Lakes is suffi- 
ciently well to allow us to pursue our voyage* his eyes 
are of course bandaged, and he cannot employ himself 
for some days to come, but we have the greatest reason 
to be thankful that things were no worse. Mr. Lakes 
might have suffered the loss of his eye, and we must 
have returned in the boat with him to Cairo. 

We are now, thank God, again stemming the broad 
bosom of old Nile, to the wild music of our Arab, or 
rather, Berber crew, (the Berbers are a tribe of central 
Nubia), under a glorious, never ceasing sunshine, now 
so mild in its refulgence, that you would suppose your- 
self in England, were it not for the plague of flies, 
countless hosts of which have invaded our watery do- 
micile since we moored our little bark alongside the 
town of Minieh ; the plague of fleas has also com- 
menced, and begins to be troublesome to us at night. 
Ihe banks oi the river swarm with gigantic rats, which 
never fail to come on board whenever we stop, but they 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 1. 69 



seem to content themselves with running about the 
boat during the night, and gnawing the timbers, as we 
have not yet discovered that we are sufferers by their 
visits to our store lockers, or poultry crate, which is a 
matter of astonishment, considering the facility of 
access they have to any article of food on board, and 
their numerical force and rapacity. We have two cats, 
(as yet only kittens), and a rat trap on board, but 
cannot entirely succeed in expelling our unwelcome 
visitors. 

^ ^ % 

With kind regards to all our friends at Ryde, and 
elsewhere, 

Believe me, always, 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



(Letter VII.) 

On board the Mary Victoria, Nile boat, 
Between Minieh and Manfalout, Central Egypt; 

December 6th, 1850. 

My dear E 

A. charming breeze is wafting us merrily up the 
Nile, and the plague of flies has ceased for the present, 
as by dint of brushing them out of the cabin with fly- 
flaps and towels, we have succeeded in reducing their 



70 


LETTERS OF 




numbers within the limits of moderation, and so long as 
we continue in mid-channel, we may reckon safely on 
enjoying freedom from one of the most serious annoy- 
ances to which travellers in Egypt are exposed. The 
nights are now always chilly, and the early mornings, 
till about nine o'clock, or even later, quite cold. Even 
in this quarter of the world, the tendency to extremes, 
evinced by the climates of the Eastern side of all large 
tracts of land, is manifested ; for Mr. Headland, the 
superintendent of the sugar factory at Rhodah, told me 
this morning, that the canes are occasionally much 
injured by frost in this latitude, 28°, and that in Jan- 
uary sharp hoar frosts are not un frequent, ice having 
been formed last winter there one fourth of an inch in 
thickness. 

Minieh is one of the largest provincial towns of 
Central Egypt, and has a garrison of 800 troops, the 
depot of four regiments of cavalry. Like all other 
towns in this country, it is a confused assemblage of 
narrow streets and alleys, made up of dirt and rubbish, 
and dilapidation ; the abodes of the lower classes mere 
mud hovels, and those of the higher, pigsties on a larger 
scale. We had letters to M. Mounier, who has the 
management of a very extensive sugar manufactory 
close to the town, belonging to the eldest son of Abbas 
Pasha, a boy of twelve years of age. M. Mounier 
received us with great politeness, and conducted us over 
the works, which are very complete, where the sugar 
undergoes every process, from its extraction from the 
cane, to its refinement as loaf sugar. The evaporation 
of the cane juice is carried on in vacuo, as in the great 
English refineries, and the purification is effected by 
animal charcoal, obtained from immense neaps ot bones, 
calcined on the spot in proper furnaces. The machinery 



W. A. BROMFIELD. —No. 7. 


71 


is of the most complete description, and consists not 
only of the sugar mills, &c, required for refining, but 
of powerful English steam engines for driving them, 
and pumps of great calibre for irrigating the land, of 
which 1500 acres are planted with canes. The labour 
in this, and another sugar manufactory at Rhodah, a few 
miles further up, is forced ; and the poor workmen, to 
whom no day of rest is allowed, (not even Friday, the 
Moslem sabbath), are paid their scanty earnings in kind, 
never in money, and this payment consists of molasses 
or the refuse sugar, the delivery of which is often with- 
held from them for weeks, whilst they are driven to the 
work chained together like convicted felons. The 
accounts we hear from persons of the highest respecta- 
bility of the oppressive exactions and barbarities of the 
Egyptian government, and of the venality, falsehood, 
and dishonesty of every official in its employ, would 
appear incredible, did not every thing we see around us 
bear witness to their truth. The fearful picture of the 
desolation of Egypt drawn by the prophet Ezekiel, 
chap. 29 to 31, is a vivid representation of what she is 
at the present moment, and a signal instance of the 
fulfilment of Scripture prophecy. Between Minieh and 
Manfalout we stopped to deliver letters and newspapers 
to Mr. Headland, at Ehodah, (which word signifies in 
Arabic a garden), the property of Ismael Bey. We saw 
there a steam pump, &c, for irrigation, and others in 
course of erection ; the works are extensive, but the 
sugar is sent from the manufactory to Cairo to be 
refined, by a large English firm in that city. The ap- 
pearance of tall factory chimneys vomiting out smoke, 
and huge boilers emitting clouds of steam, not to men- 
tion an occasional steam-boat puffing and splashing 
against the turbid stream, that has its sources in the 





LETTERS OF 



heart of a barbarous and unknown land, divests, it 
must be owned, the valley of the Nile of some of that 
romance which early associations have attached to it, 
and perhaps speaks in significant language of its resto- 
ration at no very distant day to more than its ancient 
glory and prosperity. Mr. H. received us with great 
civility, and would have shewn us the works, had we 
not declined his offer on the plea that we were anxious 
to profit by the then favourable wind for continuing our 
voyage upwards ; besides which, w r e had no desire to see 
a second sugar manufactory, similar to, but less com- 
plete, than that which we had so lately visited, and with 
the details of which we were so well acquainted. We 
contented ourselves therefore, ( I mean Mr. Pengelly and 
myself, for Mr. Lakes could not of course accompany 
us), with walking over the gardens of the governor of 
the district, in which Mr. Headland keeps a fine young 
lion, just five months old, and already nearly as large as 
a mastiff, lately brought from Nubia, and intended, I 
believe, as a present for Abbas Pasha. The beast is 
allowed to roam at large over the garden, and although 
now only exhibiting the amiable traits of leonine juve- 
nility, he gives evidence in his rough play, of great 
strength, and when feeding, of some ferocity ; tokens, 
it will be well to attend to in time, as in a few more 
months, the unrestrained liberty he now enjoys, may be 
perverted to the harm of those about him. 

Manfalout, December 7th. We arrived at this place, 
the ancient Crocodilopolis, about noon, and have now 
completed the half of our voyage between Cairo and 
Thebes. The wind has been exceedingly variable, and 
often, none at all, which has obliged us to get on by 
polling and tracking ; but on the whole, we have made 
thus far a fair average passage for the time of year, for 





W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 7. 


73 


the month of December is always considered unfavour- 
able for ascending the river, from the unsteadiness and 
uncertainty of the wind, which as often blows from the 
south as from the north, and calms, or very light airs 
are constantly intervening. We went ashore at every 
large town or village on our way. Manfalout is a small 
place compared with Minieh, and like every other 
Egyptian town, is principally built of unburnt brick. 
There are two handsome minarets belonging to the 
principal mosques, which last, with the residence of the 
governor or other principal officer of the district, are 
the only buildings at all distinguishable in the cities of 
this country, from the mass of dirty, dilapidated, or half 
finished habitations which compose them. 

A pretty little Egyptian boy, about ten or eleven 
years of age, volunteered to conduct us where doves 
were to be found, on which gentle bipeds, I am ashamed 
to say, we have been satiating our carnivorous appetites 
for this fortnight past, for which I can only plead by 
way of excuse, their delicate flavour, so superior to that 
of domestic poultry, and the means their death affords 
us of economising, or rendering the purchase of the 
latter almost unnecessary. The little fellow failed to 
find us many birds, but gambolled and frolicked along 
with us outside the town, perfectly at his ease with the 
giaours, and at last bade us adieu at the door of his 
mother's house. Mr. Pengelly took such a fancy to 
him, that he fain would have taken him away with us 
up the river, an arrangement we should all have been 
equally charmed with, and to which the boy shewed no 
sort of repugnance; but his mother told us when we 
made the proposition, that she could not bear to part 

•j^li* i.i 1 i i t r» ,i I'll ii 

with mm, although she had tour other children at home, 
of which he was the eldest, and she appeared to enter- 





74 LETTERS OF 



tain no distrust of our intentions. At parting, Mr. Pen- 
gelly gave him a small silver coin, value a quarter 
piastre, or about a halfpenny sterling, no despicable 
baksheesh to a child in this poverty stricken country. 
The poor little fellow looked at it, and seemed for a 
moment as if hesitating to accept it, then deposited it, 
on our encouraging him to do so, in a fold of his ves- 
ture, with an air of shame at becoming the recipient, 
which astonished us in a country where avarice is the 
ruling passion from the highest to the lowest, and where 
a present or remuneration is demanded by every man, 
woman, and child, for the smallest service. 

Manfalout boasts a tolerable bazaar, where, during 
our visit we were much amused by the curiosity of the 
rude Arnout soldiery, some of whom are quartered 
here, in inspecting our fire arms, my highly finished 
double barrelled gun exciting their greatest admiration, 
especially the strength and mechanism of the per- 
cussion lock, the principle of which the Oriental 
gunsmiths are but imperfectly acquainted with, and 
cannot yet imitate. The fineness of our English pow- 
der too astonished them exceedingly, and we parted with 
these intractable warriors on the best of terms. We 
find the people in every town and village we enter 
extremely well disposed towards us, ready to give every 
information in their power, and to shew us where any 
game is to be found ; only disagreeable when a bargain 
for meat, vegetables, bread, charcoal, <fec, is negotiating, 
when their disposition to over-reach and haggle about a 
para seldom fails to shew itself : but this unpleasant 
intercourse we find it on every account best to leave to 
Mr. L's Nubian (Berber) servant, Ameen, who speaks 
the language, and knowing the value of the various 
articles we consume, conducts the greater part of our 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 7. 



75 



marketing, rendering us an account of the money 
disbursed every day or two. Ameen is brother to the 
Nubian attendant on the hippopotamus in the Zoolo- 
gical Gardens, who accompanied the animal from its 
native country to England, where he still is. Ameen 
sometimes receives letters from his brother, who wishes 
him to join him at the gardens, and says he has got 
money in a Savings bank. He occasionally finds means 
of sending his brother Ameen little presents, such as an 
English penknife, but the latter does not seem to relish 
the idea of quitting Egypt for England, as from his 
known respectability at Cairo, Ameen is sure of a 
comfortable livelihood, as servant or dragoman to 
travellers going up the Nile. Ameen is much pleased 
at my offer to become the bearer of a letter to his 
brother on my return home next year. 

The scenery for several days past has been interesting, 
the left, or eastern bank of the Nile, being uniformly 
bounded by a lofty limestone ridge, increasing in height 
and boldness as we advance southward, sometimes 
receding to a distance of several miles from the river 
banks, and at other times almost skirting the shore, and 
often jutting out into bold headlands, or occasionally 
rising into peaks of considerable elevation. This ridge, 
which now (at Siout, Dec. 9th,) begins to close in on 
the valley of the Nile on both sides like a vast and 
magnificent wall, is a continuation of the Mokattan chain 
which commences at the Red Sea, and is already of re- 
spectable height at Cairo, but here assumes quite a 
mountainous aspect. The range is the boundary of the 
great western (Lybian) and eastern deserts, and is per- 
fectly devoid like them of even a blade of grass ; it now" 
quite shuts out by its continuous elevation every glimpse 
of the desert, which before, (at least on the east side) 



76 



LETTERS OF 



often discovered its ocean-like expanse of sand billows 
as we held on our course ; now, we see only the nearly- 
perpendicular and stratified face of its abrupt, cliff-like 
terminations, below which, is a broad or narrow strip of 
land diversified with rich crops of maize, guinea-corn, 
sugar, clover, wheat, colewort, beans, peas, carrots, 
cotton, and various garden esculents, as onions, garlic, 
cabbage, ochras, fennel, coriander, Corchorus olitorius, 
&c. blended at short intervals with villages standing 
amidst extensive date groves, full of doves and wild 
pigeons, and with here and there a lovely grove of 
6e Sant" (Acacia Nilotica), Gum tree (Acacia vera), 
which in Nubia and Abyssinia yields the Gum Arabic 
of commerce. Both these trees are now loaded with all 
their sweet scented flowers closely compacted into 
globose heads like little golden balls. The single fields 
of guinea-corn especially, are of incredible extent, and 
afford food and shelter to wild boars, and harbour packs of 
jackalls that nightly serenade us with their melancholy 
noise, a whining kind of barking, much like that of a fox, 
but louder, and more disagreeable. Mr. Lakes shot the 
other day with his rifle, a very large jackall, when we 
were out together looking for game, and we anticipate 
fine sport during the moonlight nights, now coming on, 
amongst the ruins of Karnac and Luxor, where we hope 
to eat a pic-nic dinner on Christmas day, and to feast 
on plum pudding made by the hands of Saad, the only 
christian, by the way, of our party, besides our three 
selves, and who has proved a most able cook, in addition 
to his character as a steady, and we believe too, an 
honest servant. I cannot say as much for his skill as a 
laundress, for the display of which, did he possess it, 
our very limited means afloat afford him little oppor- 
tunity ; for we quite forgot to add a board and smooth- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 7. 77 



ing irons to our outfit on leaving Cairo. We dress in 
linen, which has only been washed over, and hastily 
dried in the sun and air ; the fronts are all puckers, and 
the collars the same, and without a particle of starch in 
them. Shaving we have quite abjured in these wild 
regions as a tedious and unnecessary toilette operation : 
so we are all decorated with black bushy beards and 
moustaches of three week's growth, and since we have 
adopted the tarboosh, a close cap of scarlet cloth, with a 
huge tassel of dark blue silk, worn over another small 
skull cap of cotton, called a takeelzel, we are half mos- 
lem in appearance, if not in creed. I am sure our 
friends at home would laugh were they to see us, nor 
am I certain that they would not envy us our river life, 
and river home in this most splendid and rainless 
climate. 

The soil of the valley of the Nile, particularly that 
part left dry by the now receding waters, is a sandy 
loam of a deep brown colour, and of the consistence 
nearly of paste, so that like that, it is quite plastic, and 
can be kneaded with the fingers as dough. It is an 
error to suppose that the soil of the Nile is slime : it 
can hardly even be called mud when in its state of 
softest consistence; and its aspect conveys the impression 
of its exuberant fertility, which might be still further in- 
creased by the use of manures, and a proper rotation of 
crops, of which the Egyptian farmers have no idea. 
The towns and villages are constructed of unburnt 
brick made of the alluvial earth, and consequently pre- 
sent the same colour as that of the ground they stand 
upon, while the skins of the inhabitants are of a hue very 
closely approaching that of their native soil, and the 
scanty clothing of the fellahs or agricultural labourers, 
as well as that of the greater part of the poor in the 



78 


LETTERS OF 




towns and villages, is a single wrapper of a very coarse 
and thick cloth, also of a deep brown, made probably of 
the undyed wool of the native sheep, whose fleeces are 
exactly of that colour, white sheep being seldom seen in 
this country ; hence, brown is the prevailing colour in an 
Egyptian landscape ; the desert, the river, the people, 
the cattle, the houses, are all brown, or of a tint in which 
brown is the chief constituent; it is a swart land of 
grave and sombre colours, even the green of the few 
species of trees indigenous to, or cultivated in Egypt, is 
of a deep and dark, rather than of a light and lively 
shade, that of the date palm and olive is greyish or 
glaucous ; of the acacia, mimosa, and sycamore, either 
dark or dull, viewed in the mass. I have seen nothing 
as yet like the verdure I was led to expect from the de- 
scriptions usually given by travellers in this country ; 
there is no lack of green it is true, but it is in strips or 
patches, intersecting which the native brown of the 
soil is ever presenting itself in strong contrast. 
No vegetation adorns either bank of the Nile along 
any part of the vast distance I have yet traversed 
from Alexandria hither (to Osiout) ; its shores gradually 
increase in height as we advance, and although of a rocky 
character in a few places, are for the most part com- 
posed of a soft dark brown alluvium, which is constantly 
crumbling, and falling into the stream, often in masses 
from a few hundred weight to several tons at a time, 
by which the course of the river is constantly under- 
going alteration : so that even were it navigable for 
vessels of any great burden, which the innumerable 
shallows and shifting banks preclude, any survey would 
in a few years be wholly obsolete and useless. 

Siout, Esiout, or Osiout, December 9th. We arrived 
at this place, at present the capital of Upper Egypt, 



TV. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 7. 


79 


. , 

and the ancient Lycopolis, after a tedious passage from 
Manfalout, owing to the wind failing us entirely. As 
we propose stopping a day or two here on our return 
voyage, to visit the tombs and grottos in the moun- 
tains behind the town, I will not now attempt a de- 
scription of a place imperfectly seen by us as yet, but 
will only give a slight sketch of its situation, which is 
the most picturesque of any town we have yet visited 
in Egypt. The valley of the Nile is here exceedingly 
broad, and the range of lofty limestone hills which shuts 
it out from the desert, recedes from both banks, leaving 
a wide plain of great fertility, and in a high state of cul- 
tivation between the river banks and the hills. The town 
is the third in size of those in Egypt, and is stated to 
have a population of 20,000 souls. Like Cairo, it is 
walled round, and the bazaars rank next to those of that 
city for the variety of goods they display. Siout is noted 
for its manufactures of pipe bowls, some of which we 
inspected, and were surprised at the elegance of the 
designs of the better kinds, and the finish of the work- 
manship. The limestone ranges on the western, or 
Lybian side of the valley, assuming here quite a moun- 
tainous character, are pierced with innumerable tombs 
quite visible from the plain below. The approach to 
Siout from the small village of El Khamra, which may 
be called its port, and about the same distance from the 
town as Boulak is from Cairo, is exceedingly pretty, 
passing along a broad raised causeway planted with 
willows, and running across fertile fields and gardens to 
the very gate of the town. We rode to the city on 
excellent donkeys to make purchases, followed by the 
greater part of our Nubians, decked out in their best 
attire, Ameen in particular, and our boy Mohammed, 
far outshining the others in the taste and gaiety of their 





80 


LETTERS OF 




costume, and bent like ourselves, on marketiog at the 
last town where coffee, tobacco, and other requisites 
can be obtained of good quality. Having spent an 
hour or two in visiting the bazaars and the few other 
objects of interest it presents, we took leave for a time 
of the capital of Upper Egypt, and returned to our 
boat at El Khamra. 




* * * * 




Believe me, 




Dear E 




Your affectionate Brother, 




William Arnold Beomfield. 




(Letter VIXL) 




On board the Mary Victoria, 




\JiL XLiivIllilllll U U]Jt!I -Ej£>yUl« 




December 12th, 1850. 




My dear E 




Since my last, dated December 6th, was finished, 
we have advanced, as far as the town opposite to which 
I am now writing, towards the great centre of our 
Nilotic aspirations, Thebes, which we may confidently 
expect io iedon in a weeK at iariiiesi. uur voyage 
progresses merrily, if not rapidly, but we all heartily 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 8. 


81 


wish the weather warmer in the mornings and evenings, 
for it is now so cold that we cannot remain up with 
comfort, even in our snug cabin, unless very warmly- 
clad. To day, we have been shivering in a north wind, 
even at noon, and sitting out in the fore-part of the 
boat has hardly been practicable at any hour, nor in- 
deed have we been able for some days past to enjoy the 
evening breeze at and after sunset ; whilst the mornings, 
till nine o'clock at least, are so cold, that the water we 
wash in makes our fingers almost numb when dipped 
into it. The whole of this day the sky has been without 
a cloud : the strong northern breeze blowing directly 
against the course of the stream, has raised its broad 
expanse into minature billows, on which our little craft 
rocks as if at sea, and sometimes heels over in a manner 
rather alarming to nervous landsmen, under the pressure 
of the gale on her huge lateen sail. This obliquity of 
position is very well during the day, when every door is 
open fore and aft, and in case of capsizing, a chance of 
escape would be offered by clinging to the hull should 
she float, or of being rescued by the Arabs, who are all 
expert swimmers, from a watery grave ; but at night it 
is far from pleasant to feel oneself vibrating alternately 
between the two extremities of an inclined plane, with 
the multifarious impediments of bedclothes, musquito 
curtains, and two pairs of folding cabin doors bolted on 
the outside, interposed to bar free egress in an attempt 
to gain the open deck, the only part where assistance 
and safety could be looked for should a sudden flaw of 
wind from the lofty hills that now hem in the valley of 
Egypt, lay our little floating tenement on her beam 
ends. Our crew would gladly make fast to the bank 
every night at sunset, and after having tired themselves 
out with singing to the darrabatakako or small drum of 





F 



82 



LETTERS OF 



the country, which we jocosely call the Arabian night's 
entertainment, quietly turn in, or rather lie about on 
deck, for the night ; but we are so anxious to reach the 
second cataract in the hope of being able to penetrate 
into Nubia, that we have issued standing orders to the 
Keis to make sail at all times of the night when the 
wind serves. The present cold weather is agreeable 
neither to ourselves, nor to our Nubian boatmen, and 
the desire of getting into warmer latitudes is shared by 
every one on board, each one of us looking forward with 
satisfaction to the prospect of passing the coldest part 
of the winter between the tropics, which we shall pro- 
bably enter before the new year dawns upon us. To-day 
has been the only one hitherto that could be called 
really disagreeable ; for though brilliantly clear, the sun 
had little power to temper the chilliness of the high 
northerly wind, which whilst it blew so keenly as to 
render exercise indispensable during exposure to it, 
raised clouds of sand from the adjoining desert 
like mist from the river, which annoyed us when ashore 
by getting into our eyes, and powdering our clothes all 
over. 

Ekhmim, the ancient Panopolis, is a considerable 
town to all appearance, for we did not land there, as we 
ran past it with a cold north wind on the evening of 
this day, reserving our visit to its lions till our return. 
It was once celebrated amongst the cities of Egypt for 
its temples to Pan, and in later times for a line of 
powerful princes. The hills forming the abrupt termi- 
nation of the table-land of the desert on either side of 
the Nile, are here very bold ; and on the eastern bank 
rise immediately behind the city of Ekhmim, which 
with its palm-groves and the broad river now washing 
its very walls, once a quarter of a mile distant from the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 8. 



83 



banks, has a very picturesque appearance. The scenery 
of the Nile in Upper Egypt is far bolder and more 
romantic than I could have supposed, and appears to 
become more and more so as we advance. In one place, 
the mountain verge of the eastern desert is actually 
washed by the river ; the western desert (the Lybian) 
is mostly much more distant, and looks like a majestic 
wall, behind which the sunsets, in cloudless skies, are 
truly magnificent. 

Girgeh, December ISth. This, almost the last town 
of any considerable size before reaching the cataracts, 
derives its name from St. George, the tutelar saint of 
the Copts, and is not on the site of any ancient place of 
note. We arrived here early in the morning, when 
Mr. P. and myself accompanied by Ameen, went into 
the town to lay in a stock of bread, and other articles of 
consumption which are beginning to run low. Girgeh 
forms no exception to other Egyptian towns, which are 
all pretty exact counterparts of one another in the main 
points of dirt, dust, dogs and squalidness, although 
many of the villages are very pretty, embowered as 
they mostly are in groves of date-palms and acacias, 
Acacia nilotica. Marketing in an Egyptian town is 
at once a very amusing and difficult business, involving 
a vast waste of time and words in the purchase of goods 
not amounting perhaps to sixpence in value. In another 
place I shall hope to give you some account of our 
bargains for flour, bread, charcoal, mishmish (dried 
apricots,) and sundry other articles, mostly comes- 
tibles, some of which we find are always needed, or on 
the point of being exhausted. At Girgeh we bought four 
fine live turkeys at sixteen and nineteen piastres the 
pair, or a at a rough estimate, in English money, two shil- 
shillings and eightpence and three shillings and twopence. 



84 


LETTERS OF 




We hope to be at Thebes in a few days, probably on 
the 18th, if we can get a wind to take us ; for at present 
we have only calms, and light baffling breezes, with 
occasionally a brisk and favourable wind from the north- 
ward for a few hours ; and even this is often made of 
little avail, or rendered contrary, by the turnings and 
curves in the river, or in rounding the numerous islands 
and sand banks. 

When marketing in the bazaars and shops of Girgeh, 
(where by the bye, as well as at Siout, there are one or 
two elaborately designed minarets to the principal 
mosques,) we were beset by the natives offering us 
antique coins for sale, amongst which was an English 
farthing of Queen Victoria ! and stranger still, the top 
of a green glass bottle with the name of the liquor it 
contained or that of the vendor cast on it, such as we so 
often see upon these vessels in England. As the poor 
fellows who offered us these curious samples of antique 
numismatics, were wholly unable to read the inscriptions 
on them, I cannot doubt that the farthing and bottle 
label, were both proffered in perfect singleness of heart, 
with the genuine coins, of which several were purchased 
by Mr. P. for a few paras each. These were mostly 
Roman or Greek, and I believe were truly what they 
appeared to be ; as Dr. Abbott of Cairo tells me that 
coins and other relics of ancient times are commonly 
found at the present day, and that those offered for sale, 
may in general be depended on as genuine antiques ; 
but that articles of real interest or value are, as they 
ever have been, rare, and for the most part find their 
way into the hands of those who know how to turn 
their possession to advantage. 

December loth, bmce leaving Eknmim, our progress 
has been exceedingly slow from the want of wind, the 



W. A BR OMFIELD. — No. 8. 


85 


turnings of the river, and the numerous shoals and sand 
banks amongst which we have to work our way. Still, 
our voyage has not been without great interest, from 
the bold and beautiful scenery of the valley of the Nile 
in this part, and from the appearance during the last 
few days of a couple of Egyptian memorabilia, the 
Doum or Thebaic palm (Cucifera Thebaica), and Cro- 
codiles. The first of these lions of the Nile, shewed 
itself in a solitary specimen w T hich caught the eye in a 
grove of date trees a few miles on this side of Ekhmim, 
which city is close upon the northern limit of the The- 
ban palm, beyond which it is only seen occasionally in a 
cultivated condition. Yesterday, however, (December 
14th,) we came upon them growing in plenty along the 
eastern bank of the river between Girgeh and Farshoot, 
whilst taking our evening ramble ; the trees bore plenty 
of fruit, but still unripe. The Cucifera Thebaica is a 
small palm, at least I have not as yet seen any exceed- 
ing twenty-five or thirty feet in height, and is remark- 
able amongst the trees composing this numerous family, 
for having the stems repeatedly branched at top in a 
forked manner, the branches terminating in a tuft of 
large fan shaped leaves, with prickly foot stalks. The 
fruit which is produced in long clusters, is of the size of 
a good large apple, and of a russet brown when ripe, 
consisting, like the cocoa nut, of a central nucleus, 
surrounded by a tough, fibrous outer coat,, which when 
chewed has a sweet taste, compared with truth to that 
of gingerbread, which it resembles almost exactly ; but 
the outer coat, although eatable, is so dry and husky, 
and withal so sparing in quantity, and difficult to 
separate from the nut it encloses, that as a fruit tree, 
this palm can never rival the date, and whoever has 
tasted one of the fruits, will I think hardly be at the 





86 LETTERS OF 

i 

. . . , 

trouble of eating a second. Perhaps the only ripe 
specimens I have seen, which were in the market at 
Cairo, might not have been the best of their kind ; but 
the fact that the fruit of the Doum palm is but oc- 
casionally brought from Upper to Lower Egypt, and is 
eaten only by the peasantry, and poorer classes in the 
towns, proves the little estimation in which it is held, 
and which is probably equal to its real merit in its best 
state of perfection. At the time I am writing, (Mon- 
day evening, December 15th,) we have passsd Farshoot, 
and the Doum palm now mixes with the more majestic 
date tree everywhere along the river banks, and in 
some places grows by itself, or is the prevailing species. 

The scenery at this part of our voyage is extremely 
bold and picturesque, the banks of the river are very 
steep, and basaltic rock has appeared in some places 
cropping out at the Avater's edge, whilst the cliffs that 
bound the valley on the east present a magnificent as- 
pect from their mountainous elevation, and the vast 
sand-drifts that fill every nook and hollow from the 
deserts at their back ; and especially beautiful do they 
look when their bare yellow sides reflect the rays of the 
setting sun, which for some days past, has gone down 
in a glowing and cloudless, but cold sky. Nearly co- 
equal with the limits of the Doum palm, is the line that 
bounds the distribution of the crocodile northwards, at 
the present day ; for in ancient times it would appear to 
have ranged much lower in the Nile, and it is said to 
have even inhabited the Delta, and Lower Egypt pro- 
perly so called. In our day, the crocodile is said first to 
make its appearance at or near Osiout, but we saw none of 
them during our short stay at that city ; but on Sunday 
morning (December 14:th,) on arriving about a quarter 
of a mile from a sand bank, which we learned from 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 8. 


87 


our boatmen was a favourite resort of these reptiles, and 
which is a little beyond Girgeh, between that town and 
Farshoot, we had the great gratification of seeing a whole 
herd, if I may use the term, of these river monsters 
emerge one by one from the stream as the sun gained 
power, and assemble on the sand bank, where we soon 
counted no less than sixteen of various sizes, huddled 
together, and evidently enjoying the warmth of the 
bright and unclouded morning-ray. The smallest of 
those we saw, as we watched them through our tele- 
scopes, seemed to be at least eight or nine feet in length, 
and several were absolute leviathan monsters, as hideous 
and terrific as can well be imagined, not less certainly 
than sixteen or eighteen feet long, with bodies as thick 
as that of a horse ; the huge jaws of some gaping wide 
apart as they lay listless and motionless on the sand, or 
occasionally dragged themselves forth from the water to 
he along like huge logs or trunks of palm trees, to which 
they have no inconsiderable general resemblance in the 
rough and scaly covering of their unwieldy forms, 
knotted with crested protuberances. We were so near 
them, that by aid of our telescopes, we could perfectly 
watch their motions, and discover their minutest cha- 
racters, longing all the time to be amongst them with 
our guns, and planning an attack we intend making on 
their strong hold when we return down the river. We 
propose to throw up a masked battery of sand the day 
previous to our attack, and landing on the beach before 
day-break the following morning, to open fire on them 
from behind our temporary fort as they come up out of 
the river to bask in the sun. We have furnished ourselves 
with balls of hardened lead expressly for the purpose, 

"li ill 11 i 1 * j 1 f* i O 1 i m 

ana trust to be able to achieve the teat ot snooting a 
crocodile, and carrying off his jaws and scull as trophies 





88 LETTERS OF 



of our campaign against the ancient monster deities of 
Egypt's river. The young specimens of the crocodile of 
the Nile that are occasionally brought alive to England, 
give no idea whatever of the hideous deformity, and 
ferocious aspect of the full grown animal. A more re- 
volting creature does not exist ; yet I believe that to 
man they are seldom, if ever, dangerous, being extremely 
watchful and timid, waddling slowly down to, and sli- 
ding into the water, on the too near approach of any 
person ; and we observed the sand banks occupied by 
numbers of aquatic birds, geese, cranes, pelicans, &c, 
walking about the outstretched monsters as if possessed 
with a feeling that they were in no peril of their lives 
in the society of these ugly reptiles. A boat, in round- 
ing the bank, fired a gun at the crocodiles, but not 
within range, which had the effect of sending them all 
pell mell into the water, but in a few minutes afterwards 
the noses of one or two might be seen emerging, and 
soon the sand bank became repeopled with the 
fugitives. We little expected at this season to find 
crocodiles half so numerous, seeing how cold the morn- 
ings are now, and how low the temperature of the Nile 
is, compared with that which it attains a few months 
later or earlier than the present. 



Always my dear E., 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



IV. A. BR OMFIEL D. — No. 9, 



( Letter IX. ) 

On Board the Mary Victoria, 

Near Kenneh, opposite Dendereh, 

December 16th, 1850. 

My dear E 

I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afforded me 
by the place we are now approaching, of posting these 
sheets at the last town in Egypt from whence letters can 
be dispatched to Cairo with any certainty or regularity. 
I am not without hopes of finding one from you at 
Kenneh, where, if the wind does not fail us, we shall 
arrive to day or early to morrow ; at all events, I trust 
to have tidings from you on our return from Nubia. 
Will you be so kind as to let Mr. Lawrence have the 
two little packets of seeds of Egyptian plants ; he will no 
doubt raise them in pots, and keep them carefully from 
frost : it is very probable that both may be planted out 
in the summer. I am collecting everything in the shape 
of seeds I can find, but there are not many of the native 
plants at present in flower, much less in seed ; and I 
fancy I shall reap a richer harvest in this way on our 
return voyage, than in the ascent of the river. 

Tuesday Evening, December 16th. A brisk wind is 
fast wafting us to Kenneh on the opposite bank of the 
river, near to which stand the magnificent ruins of 



90 



LETTERS OF 



Dendereh, on which we hope to feast our longing eyes 
to-morrow. The weather is gloriously serene and sunny ? 
and were it not for the coldness of the nights and morn- 
ings, would be perfect, for the temperature even at mid- 
day is that of the mildest summer weather : however this 
night it is somewhat warmer, and our merry hearted 
Nubians are amusing themselves, and, as they would 
fain believe, us also with their native Berber songs, with 
drum accompaniments ; a species of musical entertain- 
ment we could well dispense with at this moment when 
we are engaged in making up our budgets for home, but 
we cannot find it in our hearts to stop this noisy, but 
innocent mirth ; for no boat's crew could behave better 
than ours have done, poor fellows ! 

I shall look out carefully for small antiquities among 
the ruins of Dendereh, Thebes, &c, and believe that I 
can be put in the way of taking casts of the smaller 
inscriptions and hieroglyphics, as you take the brasses 
in a church, as Mr. P. has just shewn me one taken off 
on common paper by himself. 

Pray remember me most kindly to all our friends at 
Ryde, 

* # * * 

Believing me, always, 

Your affectionate Brother, 

William Aenold Bkomfield. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 10. 



(Letter X. ) 



The Mary Victoria Nile Boat, 
off Kenneh December Hth 1850. 

My dear E 

"We set out at an early hour this morning for the 
town of Kenneh or Ginneh as it is sometimes written, 
it is situated about a mile or rather more from the Nile, 
which however when at its height overflows the flat 
ground which lies between it and the town. The 
approach is exceedingly pretty, almost as much so as 
that to Osiout, the valley of the Nile being here ex- 
tremely picturesque from the grandeur of the lofty 
craggy barrier that shuts it in from the Desert on either 
side. Both the valley and the river are here of great 
breadth, and the former is richly adorned with groves of 
lofty date palms interspersed with doum palms which are 
now abundant in all the fields, and of which I have to 
day seen some very fine specimens in full fruit. The 
country is everywhere beautifully green with the tender 
springing wheat and barley, which are here about as 
far advanced as in England in April or May, and will be 
ready for harvesting in April, or at the end of March. 
At this time the Guinea corn, of which vast quantities 
are raised in Egypt, is being gathered in, and the sugar 
harvest will succeed a week or two later. The quantity 



92 



LETTERS OF 



of garden vegetables grown in Egypt is prodigious, the 
whole valley of the Nile may be regarded as one great { 
kitchen garden, and all the ancient plant deities of 
Egypt still find favour in the sight of the modern I. 
inhabitants. Besides the vast fields of wheat, barley, 
maize, Guinea corn, and other cereal grains, you every- 
where meet with extensive plots of Nile's exuberant 
land, bearing heavy crops of carrots, coleseed, onion, 
leeks, lentils, lupins, chick peas, (pois chiches of the 
French, garvanzos of the Spaniards,) lettuces, cabbages, 
a species of radish called figi, cauliflowers, French beans, 
beans, (for which Egypt has always been famous) 
ochises, (Hibiscus esculentus,) melolleyehs (Corchorus 
olitorius), besides melons, water-melons, gourds, vegetable 
marrow, tomatos, sessama, and other esculent seeds or 
roots, while much of the soil is devoted to sugar, cotton, 
indigo, (indigofera argentea,) rice (in the Delta chiefly,) 
clover, coriander, mallows ( Malva rotundifolia in Egypt 
grown in quantities as a pot herb,) tobacco, (chiefly I 
think the inferior species,) and other products, all of 
which one meets with in the open fields, not merely in 
gardens, and in quantities that would astonish our 
farmers and market gardeners at home. It is no un- 
common thing to see a field of maize or Guinea corn 
extend over a mile or two in length along the banks of 
the river : those of wheat, barley, and other cereal grain 
are much smaller, though still of considerable extent: 
the fields of clover, carrots, and other crops, are perhaps 
not usually greater in size than in our own country. 

Kenneh is a town of some importance (the ancient 
Csenopolis or Neapolis,) the residence of a provincial 
governor, and garrisoned by troops. It is famous for 
its manufacture of porous earthern jars called gullahs, 
used all over Egypt for cooling drinking water, they 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 10. 



L>3 



are made here, and at a few other places higher up the 
Nile, for the purpose of exportation. A given number 
of the gullahs is joined together in the water, and 
covered with palm branches, then a second stratum of 
pots is placed above, and the whole, forming an immense 
raft, is floated down the river by boatmen, who reside 
on these singular structures, to Cairo, Alexandria, and 
the intermediate places along the Nile. Numbers of 
these rafts have passed us for the last two days, each 
composed of some thousands of jars or rather jugs, 
bound together with the palm tree bands, the lower 
stratum floating upright in the water bearing up the 
flooring on which the second stratum is placed, and 
across this last layer spaces are left for the crew to pass 
along between the frail cargo whilst on their voyage 
downwards, which of course is chiefly effected by the 
currents, aided at times by the wind. We found the 
bazaars at Kenneh as well supplied as those at Siout, 
and having finished our marketing there, and delivered 
our dispatches for England addressed to the British 
Consul at Cairo, into the hands of Seyd Hosseyn, a 
venerable old gentleman who acts as consular agent at 
Kenneh, and with whom we took coffee, and a whiff of 
the chibouk in the open street, in front of the house, 
Mr. P. and myself set off with Ameen on donkey-back, 
in full anticipation of delight to view the first lion on 
our way to upper Egypt, the temple of Dendereh, (the 
ancient Tentyris,) situated about two miles and a half 
(by the way we took) from the western bank of the 
Nile, and nearly opposite Kenneh. Our path, (for here 
there are no roads,) lay between richly cultivated fields 
of Guinea corn, cotton, &c. among date palms growing 
in clumps, or standing singly, interspersed with beauti- 
ful tufted tamarisks, and gum trees, (acacia nilotica,) 



94 


LETTERS OF 




generally called Sant. Here the douin palm is a most 
conspicuous feature of the landscape, and noble specimens 
intermixed with the date, and the two other trees just 
mentioned, constitute beautiful groves and glades be- 
tween the river and the temple of Dendereh. In lower 
Egypt the date palm forms vast groves both native and 
artificial, and every village almost stands in, or by, a 
planted palm wood. The trees in that part, and in 
central Egypt, are tall, slender, and graceful, but the 
stems are usually single, seldom two from the same root, 
and still more rarely three. In upper Egypt, on the 
contrary, the date groves are far less formal than in the 
lower and central districts ; and whilst the trees rise up, 
as there, to sixty or seventy feet or more, this palm grows 
isolated as well as dispersed in picturesque clumps, and 
from one and the same root spring not only two and 
three, but four, five, or six stems rising obliquely, each 
stem bearing its noble crown of leaves at the summit. 
The intermixture also in upper Egypt of the humbler, 
but not less beautiful doum palm, which does not grow 
wild in Lower Egypt, contributes to the vast superiority 
of the former over the latter country in natural beauty, 
I had no previous idea of the lovely features of the 
superior parts of the valley of the Nile, in innumerable 
places, as between Siout and Thebes, which are so much 
bolder than any thing I expected to see. But to return 
to Dendereh. Yery soon after starting, we caught 
sight of a low looking building in the distance, standing 
on the verge of the desert, and on the edge of the cul- 
tivated ground, small, and extremely un-imposing in 
appearance. At that point of view it resembled some 
unfinished structure of modern times, it might have been 

q /T»ar»n nnnsp EJnfi stn n p<3 nv ci rci n o-a at shnna r\~v wqvp- 

houses. A feeling of disappointment came over us when 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 10. 



we ascertained that this mean looking building must be 
the celebrated temple we were in search of ; as it was 
the only object of the kind in sight, and stood in the 
direction in which we ought to look out for the renowned 
ruin. 

As we continued drawing nearer, our disappointment 
seemed fated to remain undiminished, but when we 
arrived at the noble pylon or entrance gate, and far more 
so, when we stood at the threshold of the magnificent 
portico of the great temple of Athor (the Egyptian 
Venus), and looked across its colossal row of sculptured 
columns into the great hall beyond, disappointment 
gave way to delight and astonishment. Every square 
foot of this vast edifice, which at a short distance 
seemed to us so mean in design, and insignificant 
in dimensions, is covered with hieroglyphic writing, 
and though said to have been executed in the decline of 
Egyptian art, many of the figures and human profiles 
excited our admiration by their beauty. I will not 
attempt a description of this or of any of the other vast 
structures of ancient Egypt with which I hope speedily 
to become acquainted, because you can easily procure 
books that describe them both better, and more fully 
than I can do. I shall therefore only observe that 
Mr. P. and myself spent the remainder of the day in 
exploring the elaborately sculptured, and finely pro- 
portioned chambers of the great temple of Dendereh, 
and also descending into its subterranean passages and 
rooms, all covered like those above ground, with an 
endless profusion of hieroglyphics and figures in bas- 
relief. These subterranean galleries and chambers are 
perfectly dry, but the heat and closeness are excessive, 
and in some places, the effluvium from the bats' dung is 
extremely annoying and irritating to the eyes and 



96 



LETTERS OF 



nostrils, whilst these animals themselves alarmed by the 
lights and noise of visitors, fly around in the narrow 
passages in swarms, sometimes extinguishing the candles 
that serve to direct the explorer along the mystically 
carved labyrinth, the mazes of which he has the bold- 
ness to attempt threading. On our return voyage we 
propose to revisit Dendereh, and every other remarkable 
monument of antiquity, of which we are now indulging 
ourselves with general views only ; and we trust that 
Mr. L. who, I regret to say, is too unwell at present 
even to leave the boat, will then be a sharer of our 
enjoyment. 

We live merrily, and on the whole very comfortably 
in our little bark ; nevertheless we have not an inch of 
room unoccupied, and could wish that our state and store 
rooms were better divided for the purposes to which we 
are obliged to put them. Our faithful and trusty 
steward Ameen reposes nightly under the loose planking 
of the main deck forward, between our stock of bread 
and potatoes on one hand, and a pile of oranges en 
papillotes on the other, whilst a set of small shelves 
against the partition which divides my sleeping cabin 
from the adjoining one, tenanted by Mr. P. and Mr. L., 
and which is at the foot of my bed, is a perfect Italian 
warehouse stored with bottles of pickles, curry powder, 
vinegar, cases of preserved soup, sardines, powder and 
shot, &c. besides sustaining a little dispensary in the 
form of a medicine chest, which has proved of great 
use to our invalid fellow traveller. At the head of 
Mr.P's. and Mr. L 5 s. bed places, are shelves containing 
our travelling library, which is pretty voluminous for 
the space we can allot to it, and as you may suppose, the 
books relate chiefly to the country we are traversing. 
Under the bed places, part of the space is taken up with 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 10. 



97 



lockers, in which are stowed away many bulky articles, 
and amongst the rest, a frail basket completely filled 
with five para or fuddah pieces, to the amount of £ 5 
sterling ; which small coin is indispensable in the 
country towns and villages of Upper Egypt and Nubia, 
where change for the larger silver or gold coin of the 
empire is very difficult to be obtained. 

In this cabin too, there hangs a map of Egypt (that 
published by the Society for the diffusion of useful 
knowledge), a copy of which I purchased at Cairo for 
two shillings, and had mounted on mill-board expressly 
for consultation during the voyage, and which we find 
extremely convenient. Our crew of boatmen and our 
three servants, Saad, Ameen, and the boy Mohammed, 
inhabit the fore part of the vessel ; and the former sleep 
on the deck, wrapped in their cloaks and other garments, 
or occasionally on the roof of the cabin, which is also the 
abode of our live stock of poultry. The workmanship 
of these native built Nile boats is rough and unfinished 
beyond belief, neither doors nor windows are even toler- 
ably fitted, and there is not a screw used in the whole 
structure ; the very locks and bolts, such as they are, 
are merely fastened with nails to the wood- work. Our 
mosquito curtains now serve us excellently to keep the 
cold breeze at night from chilling us by the many 
entrances the boat builder has provided ; but to which, 
during the day, from nine o'clock till five in this glorious 
climate of never-ceasing sunshine, we have neither 
cause nor desire to put a stop. 

Luxor Village (Thebes), December 20th. Arrived here 
after a very slow but pleasant passage from Kenneh, the 
weather for the last few days perfectly cloudless, not a 
speck visible in the pale milky sky, a delicate thin 
blue haze enveloping the distant crags and peaks of this 



G 



98 



LETTERS OF 



part of the valley. The great difference of temperature 
however, between the day and night, continues to be 
felt most unpleasantly by us all ; for, although so close 
on the tropic, the cold at night, and in the early morning 
so late as nine o'clock, gives the impression on the 
system of active frost, or a very near approach to it, when 
the thermometer indicates 50° or 48°; but the instrument, 
being fixed against the entrance to the cabin on the 
wood-work which in our upward voyage is exposed to 
the sun all day, retains a temperature through the 
night above that of the air on the river. This is the 
only situation in which it is practicable to hang it, 
where it can of course only give an approximation to the 
truth. The heat indicated by it is much too high during 
the day, when the air in the shade is seldom much below 
or above 70°, and, at dawn, is probably not under 40° at 
this season. On making fast to the shore at Luxor, our 
boat was beset by a host of guides and donkey boys as 
numerous and importunate as at Cairo, or at an English 
watering-place ; but dispensing for the present with 
their services,, we employed the little daylight remaining 
in taking a cursory survey of Luxor and its antiquities. 

* * * * 

Believe me, 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



J 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 11. 



( Letter XI. ) 

On Board the Nile Boat Mary Victoria, 

Upper Egypt. 

December 23rd, 1850. 

My Dear E 

M Y last sheet left us at Luxor, on the evening of 
the 20th, moored close to the shore for the night, and 
just starting to take such a hasty glance at its lions, as we 
at present propose to indulge ourselves with: intending to 
make their more intimate acquaintance on our return 
down the mighty river, whose broad stream we shall 
then have navigated. 

The town of Luxor is like every other in Egypt, an 
accumulation of mean houses of unburnt brick, and mud 
hovels, but the beautiful country in which it stands on 
the wide and fertile plain of Thebes, and the massy ruins 
of the great temple of Amunoph III and Eameses II, 
together with the colossal obelisk, the fellow to which 
now adoms the Place de la Concorde at Paris, rising high 
above the modern walls, give Luxor a more imposing 
aspect from whatever side you approach it, than any of 
the places we have yet seen on the banks of the Nile. 
But excepting the obelisk which stands isolated in the 
middle of the town, and is truly a fine object, from its 
gigantic size, height, and perfect condition, one 
must be deeply imbued with the antiquarian spirit, 



100 



LETTERS OF 



to fall into raptures with any other of the existing re- 
mains of Theban magnificence. The ruins at Luxor 
struck Mr. P. and myself, as ponderous structures, quite 
devoid of elegance of design, and finished execution, 
and, excepting the great pylon (portico or gateway), 
forming the principal entrance to the temple, and facing 
the river, little else of these remains is in a state to give 
us much idea of what the effect of the entire building 
might have been in the palmy days of the Egyptian 
Monarchy ; so much are they encumbered with and en- 
croached upon by the mounds of rubbish, and miserable 
hovels of more recent times, crammed into every avail- 
able corner of the ancient walls which could be made 
subservient to the uses of a modern population. The 
colossal statues of Rameses II are more than half con- 
cealed by the accumulation of soil around them, and 
are besides much mutilated. The sculptured ornaments 
and hieroglyphics are not numerous at Luxor, and 
seemed alike poor in conception and in execution : the 
closer examination we intend making on our return, may 
disclose beauties unseen during the very superficial view 
we took on our upward voyage. I fear however, that 
the gorgeous magnificence of the temple at Dendereh, 
where grandeur, taste, and skill are so strikingly united 
with admirable preservation, quite unfitted us for relish- 
ing the heavy, and comparatively unadorned, barbaric, 
and now dilapidated structures of Luxor, thrown down 
and half buried beneath the surface of a soil, the accu- 
mulation of many ages, or hidden in great part by the 
squalid homes of the Egypt of our day. I must however 
again except the noble granite Obelisk of one enormous 
block, the height of which I am unable to state, but 
some idea may be conveyed of its vast proportions, whe 
I mention, that amidst my antiquarian researches, havin 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 11. 



101 



an eye to the replenishment of onr larder on board 1 
was unromantic enough to fire at what I took for a 
pigeon, perched like an idol-bird, on the very apex of 
this stupendous monolith, but which proved after all, to 
be an uneatable bird of prey, so indistinct were objects 
rendered by the distance from the eye, although that 
interval was but equal to the length of a single block of 
granite, I was prepared not to expect any very strik- 
ing remains at Luxor, as compared with other places 
that compose the aggregate of ruins named Thebes ! for 
there is no special town, village, or other locality, so 
called, now in existence : still, I must own to feeling 
considerable disappointment in what I did see, and in 
this I had the sympathy of my fellow traveller, who 
declared himself quite as much dissatisfied as I was. 

The next morning, December 21s£, we mounted our 
donkeys (as excellent as those at Siout) and with their 
drivers, and Ameen and Mohammed leading the caval- 
cade, we passed over part of the beautiful and extensive 
plain of Thebes, followed by a host of unbidden and 
clamorous guides, to Karnak, about a mile and a half 
from Luxor, with which it is supposed to have been 
joined by a continuous avenue of sphinxes. The valley 
of the Nile at Thebes is extremely wide, and the never- 
ceasing mountain barrier that forms its boundary on 
both banks, rises here into outlines the most abrupt and 
picturesque possible, aud encloses a vast plain, teeming 
with inexhaustible riches in fields of corn, cotton, indigo, 
and esculent vegetables of every description. The day 
was magnificent, the usual pale blue sky was without a 
speck, and a thin hot haze softened down, without im- 
pairing, the distinctness of the distant craggy steeps of 
the Theban mountains. High rose our expectations, as 
on nearing the object of our morning's ride, we sighted 



102 


LETTERS OF 




the massive columns and gateways of Karnak, through 
the long avenue of sphinxes or dromos, once the path by 
which votaries went from Luxor to the vast temple that 
formed a fitting termination to so magnificent an 
approach. But alas ! we were doomed to feel disappoint- 
ment greater than any experienced by us at Luxor the 
day before. On entering the precincts of the great 
temple, we became painfully sensible how much anti- 
quarian enthusiasm, and the proneness of travellers to 
make the most of every remarkable object on their route, 
had exaggerated the extent and magnificence of Karnak. 
I am quite ready to admit that the general effect of the 
buildings here when perfect, must have been grand, per- 
haps extremely so ; the avenue of sphinxes, when entire, 
must have formed a noble approach to the temple, to 
judge from the most perfect of those remaining; but 
even the few in any tolerable preservation are but parts 
by which to judge of them when whole ; the rest are 
reduced to small and. shapeless blocks of stone ; and im- 
agination is obliged to supply that uniformity in mag- 
nitude, and excellence of workmanship, without which 
they must have failed in grandeur of effect. The truth 
is, we expected to find the avenue of sphinxes in much 
better preservation, and our imaginations less drawn 
upon to fill up deficiencies in this, and in most other 
portions of the edifice. The pylon or gate, at which the 
above avenue terminates, is undoubtedly a fine object as 
a whole : but the hieroglyphics and sculptures are poorly 
executed on this, and as we thought, on the most part of 
the structures at Karnak, — numbers of them being little 
better than such rude carvings of natural objects as a 
plough boy, or any other country lad, might easily 

PYPfntp witn ni«! KTiitp in «ffinp nf pmiai sftftnpss fiat 

VYlLll lllo 1V1111 C 111 DLU11C KJl. tU U-dl OUi Lll^OC, lldlj 

tame scratches, instead of deeply chiselled and boldly 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 11. 



103 



designed figures, which we thought to have seen here as 
at Dendereh, and have since seen in the beautiful, and 
richly wrought temples at Esne and Edfou. The 
columns in the grand temple at Karnak struck us both 
forcibly as being inelegant and poor in design, the 
ornaments of the capitals especially paltry, and in the 
worst taste, as if belonging to the earliest state of 
Egyptian art ; which is one great reason perhaps why 
these ruins are so extravagantly be-praised, and their 
beauties magnified by the professed and zealous anti- 
quary, in whose eyes age is the greatest of recommenda- 
tion, and the highest of merits. The remains at Karnak 
are for the most part in a very dilapidated state, and 
greatly encumbered as usual with mounds and heaps of 
rubbish both of ancient and modern date, causing the 
various parts to appear isolated, as if originally uncon- 
nected with one another, which detracts from the general 
effect by destroying the primitive unity of design. 
Others have expressed themselves disappointed with 
Karnak, and many more would avow the same feeling 
had they the courage or candour to do so, or were dis- 
posed to view Egyptain antiquities with a sober un- 
prejudiced eye, seeing things as they really are, with all 
their defects as well as beauties, and being determined 
not to let imagination betray them into such extravagant 
encomiums as we meet with in many authors on this and 
on other subjects. A popular writer on Egypt gives an 
overdrawn picture of the " teeming vitality" of the Nile, 
enough to frighten any timid nervous person from 
approaching its banks. I can however safely assure such 
persons that glancing lizards are very far indeed from 
innumerable, being only seen at intervals, small, harm- 
less, and pretty ; except it be their near relation the 
huge unwieldy crocodile, or the supposed friendly fore- 



104 


LETTERS OF 




warner to man of his being nigh, the monitor lizard of 
the Nile, of which we have seen an occasional specimen 
basking in the sun along the stream, twice or thrice du- 
ring our voyage, and one of which Mr. P. had the good 
fortune to shoot with my gun from the boat, and which 
measured three feet and a half in total length. Of 
snakes, I have not fallen in with even a single example, 
although always on the look out for these reptiles, par- 
ticularly the cobra of Egypt, and the asp of Cleopatra, 
i.e., the Cerastes or horned viper, both of which, I hope 
to meet with ere long; but reptiles of this class 
(ophidians) and indeed of every other except the 
batrachians (frogs and toads) are seen but at intervals, 
or not at all, and (i countless insects of unimaginable 
forms " reduce themselves to a few dull, sombre looking 
and sober paced beetles ; a large hornet is common, but 
inoffensive unless attacked ; mosquitoes, in the warmer 
months, and common house flies, are, it must be owned, 
a serious annoyance in Egypt ; but with these two ex- 
ceptions, and that of cockroaches on board the craft on 
the river, insects are remarkably few, both as individuals 
and species in the valley of the Nile, and are like the 
indigenous plants, not conspicuous in general for their 
size, colour, or variety. The writer I have alluded to 
speaks of the "rank vegetation of the Nile:" in what 
this rankness consists I am at a loss to conceive, for the 
Nile is in this respect unlike most other rivers, in that it 
nourishes few or no marsh plants along its banks; no 
swampy jungles, or beds of reed intrude on the deep 
brown alluvium that edges the stream along every part 
of its course that I have yet traversed. On the higher 
parts of the rich sandy loam (absurdly called the slime 
of the Nile by high flown writers), flourishes the only 
rank vegetation to be seen any where, in the shape of 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 11. 



105 



luxuriant fields of corn, cotton, tobacco, lentiles, lupines, 
and the thousand gifts of nature, which would be most 
welcome in its rankness to the poor hard working, and 
oppressed fellah, were he permitted to reap the fruits of 
his labour for Iris own benefit, and not for that of another. 
Beyond this alluvium all is dry and sandy, the earth is 
clothed with a few species of harsh coarse grasses, 
amongst which, the Halfeh grass (Poa cynosuroides), is 
preeminently abundant, and groves of date palms and 
acacias stretch inland to the rocky or sandy barrier that 
marks the limit of the valley of Egypt : beyond this again 
is the absolutely naked, solitary, sea-like desert, which in 
some parts, as for instance, near Assouan, which we are 
now fast approaching, comes nearly to the very margin of 
the Nile itself. The sacred lotus of Egypt is not to be 
found in the entire valley of the Nile in modern times, 
having long since become extinct, and perhaps it was 
never indigenous there, but maintained by the care of 
man in a cultivated condition only. The ornithology of 
the Nile, is as to its subject, less susceptible of ex- 
aggeration than its zoology, for the multitudes of water 
fowl that haunt its stream, may justify the use of the 
word u swarming." The same expression might be 
applied with almost as much correctness to the various 
birds of prey that hover over its banks, far exceeding 
in variety of species, and number of individuals, any 
amount of the same tribes in other countries ; and, in- 
deed constituting one of the most singular features of 
this strange and interesting land. Vast are the flocks 
of geese, pelicans, storks, cranes, spoonbills, flamingoes, 
shags, and other aquatic birds that overspread the river. 

% ^fc 

Believe me, always, 

Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 



106 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter XII.) 



On board the Nile Boat Mary Victoria, 
about 8 miles below Dekkeh, Nubia. 

January 5th, 1851. 

My dear E 



An opportunity will be given me on our arrival at 
Wady Halfeh (the second Cataract,) or perhaps sooner, 
of dispatching these two letters to Cairo. I am ex- 
tremely vexed at being in a position which debars me, 
and has so long debarred me, from receiving news of you; 
but I am thankful at the same time, that the channel of 
communication homewards has not been cut olF, so that 
I can allay your anxiety from time to time, by means 
of Government or travellers' boats returning to Cairo. 

We are now wending our way slowly, but surely, to 
that Ultima Thule of most Egyptian travellers, the 
second Cataract at Wady Halfeh, enjoying the sun 
and warmth of the tropic which we passed yesterday 
about noon, near Kalabshee. The evenings are no 
longer anything like so chilly as they were but a few 
days since : but the mornings are as fresh still as in 
England, and cool for the latitude. At Assouan, where 
we arrived on the 30th, we had a very violent gale of 
wind for nearly twenty -four hours, from the northward, 
which made the air feel quite chilly all day on the 31st, 
and filled the atmosphere with sand from the desert. 



W. A. BROMFIELD. -No. 12. 



We expect to reach Wady Halfeh in four or five days ; 
from whence we propose setting out with six camels, 
our two servants Ameen and Mohammed, our Egyptian 
cook Saad, and one or two of the boat's crew, for 
Dongola and Meroe, about fifteen days journey into the 
interior. We are promised plenty of sport, gazelles 
and other game ; and in a large island in the Nile called 
Argo, there is a solitary hippopotamus well known to 
the natives, who can at any time find out his haunts, 
and point him out to strangers. To him we mean to 
pay a visit, and if possible shoot him, but they say, he 
bears a charmed life, and laughs at balls, dozens of 
which his impenetrable hide has defied already, so we 
can hardly hope to carry olf his head for a trophy ; still 
it will be something to see a hippopotamus in his native 
wilds. 

Our servants and crew (with the exception of the 
cook Saad, who is an Egyptian, and a Coptic Christian), 
being all Nubians, are delighted at finding themselves 
in their own country, and our young reis and the pilot 
have already visited their native villages, where we 
allowed them to go ashore to their friends for a few 
hours. Ameen, as a native of Meroe, and Mohammed, 
of Dongola, are quite overjoyed at the prospect of 
seeing their remote homes once more, for the love of 
country is very strong among the Nubians. 

We have engaged the pilot who conducts our little 
bark through the intricate navigation of the river 
between the first and second cataracts, to take charge of 
the boat at Wady Halfeh for two piastres per diem, 
(about four pence sterling,) during our expedition to the 
interior of Nubia, or more properly, into the Berber 
country, for Nubia Proper is included in the district 
between the first and second Cataracts. This pilot, we 



108 


LETTERS OF 




took on board at Assouan, where his contract was signed, 
sealed, and delivered with due form and ceremony before 
the Turkish authorities in our presence. We purchased 
an excellent tent of a most obliging Frenchman named 
Venderg, a gun merchant, on his way down the river to 
Cairo from Kordufan with a cargo of that article; 
for which we paid only the small sum of 200 piastres, 
or about £2 sterling. We shall leave most of our 
clothing and other things in the boat, taking no more 
than is absolutely necessary for the expedition, which 
will occupy us a month at least ; and probably six weeks 
will elapse before we return to Wady Halfeh, and 
commence our return voyage down the Nile. We do 
not expect to fare very luxuriously on our route, but we 
take with us a good supply of rice, coffee, and mac- 
caroni, and our guns w T ill continue no doubt, as heretofore, 
to furnish our larder with wild fowl, and, as I hope, 
venison also, for meat is not to be looked for in Nubia, 
and is execrably bad all over Egypt, with a few oc- 
casional exceptions. Poultry, we shall no doubt, be able 
to procure now and then, should our supply of game 
run short, and excellent vegetables my fellow travellers 
can always enjoy, for the valley of the Nile is one 
vast uninterrupted kitchen garden, from the shores of 
the Mediterranean to the second cataract, a distance 
of a thousand miles; and I believe it continues to be 
such a garden of herbs far beyond that point into 
Abyssinia. In this land of ancient Ethiopia, or the 
Cush of Scripture, where we now are, the wheat and 
barley are at present, nearly a yard high, but not as yet 
in ear ; though they will be ready for the sickle in 
March. The maize and Guinea corn harvest is just 
concluded, and the cotton, of which great quantities 
are grown from below Thebes upwards, is in flower, and 



. 

W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 12. 


109 


young pod. Senna, both wild and cultivated, is a great 
article of transmission hence to Cairo and Alexandria 
for exportation to Europe, and the Khenna shrub, so 
much used for dyeing the nails and hands red, is another 
valuable production of Nubia, and plentifully adorns 
the banks of the Nile ; whilst whole fields of onions, 
lentils, lettuces, beans, lupins, peas, radishes, and most 
of the remaining vegetables of Lower Egypt, cover 
both sides of the river in this narrow valley of Nubia, 
besides tobacco, the castor oil plant, and a host of 
leguminosa3 unknown in British gardens, such as ochroes, 
cocoas, &c. &c. 

On we glide daily towards the south, under a glori- 
ously bright unclouded sky, and a delicious temperature 
that scarcely any one would at present consider in the 
least oppressive : but when we get fairly within the tro- 
pics as at Meroe in 19° lat. the advancing season will soon 
begin to make itself felt, and we must expect very hot 
weather a month or six weeks hence, and to ex- 
perience the Khamseen winds in full force on or before 
our arrival at Cairo. 

Here already, above the first cataract, the population 
has much diminished, the villages are smaller, fewer, 
and farther apart, the inhabitants are darker than in 
Egypt, and most of them go all but quite naked, and 
are usually armed with a spear and shield; they are 
more independent in their bearing than the fellahs of 
Egypt, and more cleanly in their habits. The valley of 
the Nile between the cataracts is pretty, but somewhat 
monotonous ; a very narrow strip of highly cultivated 
land on each side of the river, often not a hundred 
yards wide, separating the latter from the boundless 
deserts of moving sand : but the rude grandeur of the 
granite and sandstone rocks is in many parts extremely 





110 



LETTERS OF 



imposing, especially at Assouan, and above the cataract 
at Philas, and higher up. The scenery of the first || 
cataract itself, is extremely fine, and has been likened | 
with some truth to that of Glengariff in Ireland. 

I am collecting and drying all the plants I can find 
in the valley of the Nile from Alexandria to our farthest 
limit, and regret exceedingly not having brought out a 
set of my own drying boards, with a copious supply of 
paper and mill-boards, as I am reduced to using a very i 
inferior and troublesome apparatus lent me by Mr. 
Trail ; my own little boards being far two small to be of 
any service, and I have been forced to put up with a 
very coarse paper, purchased from time to time at the 
various towns along the Nile : since however, the sun is 
rarely obscured, or hides his face for a moment, in this 
climate, I can manage to dry the specimens very fairly 
with paper which it would be hardly possible to make 
use of otherwise, with the limited quantity I have at 
command ; but the drying of the plants goes on speedily 
and uninterruptedly the whole day long, by placing the 
boards strapped together on the roof of our boat's cabin 
in the sun, which of course, is never off the roof 
between the times of rising and setting ; a heavy stone 
being laid on the boards to give additional pressure ; and 
the whole being taken in at night, on account of the 
dews which are sometimes very heavy on the river. 

From October to April is the vegetating season in 
Upper Egypt and Nubia : from the middle of April, to 
the middle or end of September, the great heat and 
drought arrest the growth of, and wither up herbaceous 
plants of most kinds ; but the very few indigenous trees, 
being naturally evergreen, resist the intense heat of the 
long, sultry, cloudless summer, uninjured. The flora of 
the Nile valley to its termination in Nubia, is of a 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 12. 



singularly northern character : more than nine tenths of 
the entire vegetation being made up of annual or 
perennial herbaceous plants of an ordinary looking 
weedy character, strongly contrasting with the tropical 
type of the cultivation, sugar, indigo, sessame, cotton, 
Guinea com, &c. The number of species is not great, 
and many of the plants are extremely social or gre- 
garious, which is very unusual in countries so near the 
equator. Few of the plants of Egypt, and (as far as I 
have yet seen), of Nubia, have much beauty of blossom, 
brightness of colour, or gracefulness of form ; and they 
are almost all, either scentless, or unpleasant in odour. 
The mere lovers of " wild flowers" would find them- 
selves grievously disappointed in Egyptian botany ; to 
them the country would be a flowerless land ; but to me, 
this peculiarity is extremely interesting, proving, what 
I have always advanced, that there is no necessary in- 
separable connection between warmth of climate, intense 
and continuous solar light, and a richly coloured, and 
varied vegetation ; as otherwise, how can it be accounted 
for that the rich, damp, alluvial soil of the Nile, and the 
dry hot sands beyond, are incapable of sustaining a ve- 
getation equally varied and luxuriant as that of our own 
bleak fields at home, or half the number of pretty flower- 
ing-plants on the same area of ground ? Not a few of 
the Egyptian and Nubian plants are common weeds in 
England, or, if not identical in species, belonging to the 
same genera with our own, and are not a whit more 
handsome in form and colour, or superior in size to their 
British congeners. It is not a little strange to find the 
hosts of warm aromatic sub-shrubs and perennials, that 
so abound on the shores of Spain, the south of France, 
Greece and other countries of the Mediterranean, dis- 
appearing almost entirely on the still more southerly 



112 



LETTERS OF 



and sunny valley of the Nile, where they are replaced 
by a few sparingly distributed tropical, or sub-tropical 
plants, whilst the remaining vegetation is of a type more 
plain and northern than that of the countries just 
named. The same northern type prevails in the other 
departments of nature's creation. Very few of the 
birds have much beauty of colouring, and those com- 
monly seen, are either identical with, or are related to 
the species with which we are familiar in England, such 
as the common sparrow, the grey wagtail, the Eoyston 
crow, the sky lark, which abounds in every field in 
Lower and Central Egypt, the Nile plover, very like 
our common peewit, (also a native,) turtle doves, blue 
rock pigeons, besides the kestrel, hen-harrier, and 
various other hawks identical with, or closely resembling 
British species, as are the owl, kingfisher, and many of 
the water fowl, some of which latter, as the flamingo, 
egrets, &c, are common to this country and southern 
Europe. Of course, there are many birds exclusively 
African, as pelicans, paddy-birds, &c, but these are sel- 
dom distinguished by any elegance or gaiety of 
plumage : although of course there are certain ex- 
ceptions to this general sobriety of colouring. As 
regards insects, I will only mention, that of the few 
butterflies that flit about the fields of this land of un- 
clouded sunshine and high temperature, that which is 
by far the most frequently seen, is our English painted 
lady (Cynthias Cardui), a species common with us in 
certain years during the latter part of summer and 
autumn ; I have noticed as yet but a single insect of 
this order at all superior in size to the largest of our 
English lepidoptera : the rest few in number, as regards 
the species, and not greatly abounding individually, do 
not exceed our native butterflies either in point of size, 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 12. 



113 



or beauty of colouring ; which is another proof of the 
j position before alluded to. 

January 7th, We are drawing very near to Korosko, 
and to Deyr, now the capital of Nubia, at both which 
places we shall arrive to-morrow if the wind is in our 
favour, which it will probably be, as the reign of the 
north wind seems now established for the season. To 
day we did not make much progress, having been 
obliged to track most part of it, as, in this tranquil cli- 
mate, the wind is perpetually falling to calm, and the 
bends and windings of the river are continually render- 
ing a fair wind a contrary one, and vice versa. The 
day after to-morrow we shall probably see Abousembal, 
or Ipsambul, one of the finest remains of Egyptian tem- 
ples existing ; and on the 10th or 11th, we hope to reach 
the foot of the second cataract at Wacly Halfeh, where 
we shall probably remain two or more days, to hire 
camels, and procure some necessaries for our journey 
into the interior. Will you tell Mr. Lawrence that 
I am collecting seeds of every kind that I can meet 
with, including some of the vegetables grown in 
Egypt for the table, which are curious ; but most, if not 
all of them, are like the fruits, much inferior to those of 
our own land, and this, when even of the same species 
with English ones, as cabbages, carrots, lettuces, &c., 
but the onions are greatly superior to ours in size and 
mildness. I intend to forward to England from Cairo 
all the seeds I shall have collected up to the date of my 
transmitting my dried Flora of the valley of the Nile : as 
I cannot of course, travel into Syria encumbered with 
these bulky and perishable articles; 

Although we are now between the tropics, the nights 
are chilly, obliging us to keep the doors of our cabin 
closed towards evening : the mornings too, for a couple 



H 



114 



LETTERS OF 



of hours before and after sunrise are disagreeably cool, 
and even during the whole of this morning till about 
1 p.m. the fresh northerly breeze drove Mr. P. and my- 
self to sit in the sun at the fore part of the boat for 
warmth. We now seldom see a sail besides our own ; we 
are at this moment moored as usual for the night under 
the steep westward bank of the mighty river whose 
current we have been stemming for forty three days, 
through nearly a thousand miles of boundless desert on 
either hand, and which in this part of our course is never 
half a mile from either bank, mostly within a hundred 
yards ; and in many places, you have but to reach the 
tops of one or other of the banks, to find yourself at once 
amidst the sand-drifts and savage rocks, that with but 
few interruptions stretch across the whole of this vast 
continent of Africa. The views indeed of the desert as 
we glide onward, are extremely picturesque in every 
part of the Nile valley, but most particularly so on ap- 
proaching the first cataract, when vast masses of dark 
coloured rocks rise from the ocean of white, yellow, or 
reddish sand into rugged hills piled in unimaginable con- 
fusion one upon another, the palm and acacia-clad banks - 
of the Nile running like two narrow edgings of lightest 
green along an undulating band of silver, for the river 
here is much clearer than lower down its course, even in 
Upper Egypt. At this hour (10 o'clock p.m.) my two 
fellow-travellers have retired to their berths, the reisj 
crew, and our servants are all stretched on the deck of 
the boat, or on that of our cabin over our heads, wrapped 
up in their blankets, capote, or other garments protect- 
ing them from the cold night air, fast asleep ; whilst the 
only sounds heard are the chirping of crickets on the 
bank above us, and the melancholy howl, or yell of 
troops of roving jackalls in the adjacent desert It is the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 12. 


115 


rapid radiation from the boundless waste of treeless and 
herbless sand and rock into the dry unclouded heavens, 
which goes on unceasingly from sunset to sunrise, that 
causes the extraordinary and trying inequality of tem- 
perature between day and night, which, at this season 
more particularly, is one of the few inconveniences of 
which travellers have to complain in this climate. Such 
is the extreme dryness of the air in the desert, that a 
plant I gathered in my walk to day, though only car- 
ried in the hand for about an hour and a half, was by the 
time I returned on board the boat, utterly unfit for 
pressing, not being merely withered, but actually dried up, 
parched and crisped, as if it had been put into an oven. 

Koj-osko, Tropical Nubia, January 8th } a little below 
Deyr. We are lying here, made fast under the steep 
bank of the river for the night, in company with two 
boats belonging to Mr, Melly of Liverpool, who with his 
family (his wife, a daughter, and two sons), is absent on 
a trip to Kordufan, from whence lie is not expected back 
for three months : the boats in the meantime awaiting his 
return at Korosko, which is the nearest point of depart- 
ure for that province. 

This is a very small poor place, but the emporium of 
the caravans from Kordufan with goods destined for the 
Egyptian capital. 

And now I fear that I must maintain an unwilling 
silence for some weeks, till we again return from living 
in tents, and journeying on camels through deserts and 
barbarous tribes, to our snugger and more civilized mode 
of life on board the Mary Victoria. 

% t£ 

With kindest regards to all friends, 

Believe me, always, 
Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 





116 



LETTERS OF 



( Letter XIII. ) 



Khartoun, at the junction of the White 
and Blue Rivers, lat. 15° N. Long. 34° 10. 

March 20th, 1851. 

My dear E 

Since my last was dispatched from Wady Halfeh for 
Cairo, through the favour of a gentleman going down 
the river, our little party has penetrated to this remote 
town, almost in the very heart of tropical Africa, and, 
thank God, we are all quite well in health and spirits* 

In this region of dust, dirt, and barbarism, I am 
reduced to the necessity of using pens made of reeds, 
the only ones in use among eastern nations, and which 
are neither lasting, nor easy to write with ; I hope, how- 
ever, to make this letter tolerably legible, and to send it 
off before leaving Khartoun, which we do to-morrow, 
in a boat we have engaged to carry us a day or two up 
the White Nile, and, on our return, to Berber, a voyage 
of eight or ten days from hence, where we have an 
order from the Pasha (Governor of Khartoun), for 
camels across the desert to Korosko, where we rejoin 
our little boat the Mary Victoria, which has been await- 
ing our arrival there for the last two months, to convey 
us back to Cairo, whither we trust to find ourselves 
safely transported about the third week in May. I can 
only give you a very short abstract of our journey 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 13. 


117 


, — . — — 

hither from Wady Halfeh. Our caravan consisted of 
seven camels, three for ourselves, and four for our ser- 
vants and luggage, tents, and water-skins. The way 
lay partly along the banks of the Nile, and partly next 
the desert, amidst scenery of a totally different de- 
scription from any I had met with before ; that of the 
river, extremely picturesque in many places ; that of 
the desert, wild and savage in the extreme. Although 
between the tropics, the nights were very cold, with 
occasional heavy gales of wind, during one of which, 
about two o'clock in the morning of the 17th, our tent 
was blown over completely, and we were left exposed in 
our beds to a keen blast, and obliged to rise, clothe our- 
selves, and get the tent up again. At eight o'clock, a.m. 
on the 18th (more than an hour after sunrise), the ther- 
mometer suspended on a bush near the tent, stood at 
51° only, and at half-past seven on the morning of the 
19th at 42° ! a cold felt to be very penetrating after the 
great heat which often prevailed during the day; but 
the excessive dryness of the air in the desert prevented 
any injurious effects resulting from these great and 
often sudden changes of temperature. On the 21st our 
progress was delayed for some hours by an accident to 
our servant Ameen, who was stung in the hand by one 
of the great yellow African scorpions, that had been 
brought to me by one of the camel drivers. Ameen, 
foolishly relying on a supposed immunity from the 
venomous effects of these and other noxious animals, 
which he believed had been communicated to him by a 
serpent charmer at Cairo for a consideration of eleven 
piastres, actually grasped the scorpion with his bare 
hand, and it instantly struck him at the root of the second 
finger of the left hand. He suffered intense pain for a 
few hours, with a feeling of great coldness all over, 





118 



LETTERS OF 



numbness on the left side of the body, indistinct vision, 
sickness, and other constitutional symptoms of rather an 
alarming nature. I had none of the proper remedies 
with me for scorpion stings, such as ammonia, and 
ipecacuanha ; but applied laudanum to the wound, and 
brandy internally; the next day the symptoms had, 
quite subsided, and Ameen felt well able to continue the 
journey. The scorpion was one of the largest I had ever 
seen, and was about five inches in length to the end of 
the tail. 

On the 27th we encamped on the fine island of Argo, 
the largest of those formed by the Nile, being thirty 
miles in length. The mirage was very strong on the 
desert this day. On the 31st we arrived at Ourdi or 
New Dongola, a miserable collection of mud built 
hovels, one of which we occupied during our stay. The 
air we found excessively cold at night, and till eight or 
nine o'clock in the morning frequently making us shiver 
even in the sun. I forgot to mention that when in 
Argo island, we visited the two remarkable colossal 
Egyptian statues, supposed to be those of Osiris and his 
wife Isis, with their son Horus. They are about twenty- 
two feet in length, of the red granite of Syene (Assouan) 
in Upper Egypt, which is not found near this place. 
Both statues have been thrown down, and one broken 
asunder in its fall ; and it is remarkable that not the 
smallest trace exists of any temple to which they might 
have belonged. 

We left Dongola on the 3rd February for Meroweh, 
near the ancient Napata, the supposed capital of Ethi- 
opia in the time of Queen Candace, the ruins of which 
still exist close beneath the fine mountain of Gebel 
Berkel ; in the craggy face of which, is a rock temple 
covered with hieroglyphics, and finely sculptured 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 13. 



119 



figures. On one side of the mountain stand a number 
of stone pyramids, and a few miles further are those of 
Neuri, of both which I shall give an account presently. 

From Ourdeh, (New Dongola) to Korti, we took a 
boat on the Nile, a wretched craft, full of dust and dirt, 
happily free from vermin, but of the roughest possible 
' construction, and extremely incommodious : the re- 
mainder of the journey was performed on camels, 
across the desert to the opposite bend of the river at 
Abou Doun El Haweshab, a very prettily situated 
village, nearly facing the now almost deserted town of 
Merowah, and which we reached on the 1 7th ; taking up 
as usual our quarters in the place, by dispossessing some 
one of his house without ceremony, the rent of which 
was handsomely paid for at one piastre per diem, or 
rather more than two-pence. The same morning, my 
camel becoming suddenly ungovernable set oif without 
the slightest warning at full gallop, throwing myself off 
first, and then the saddle with the articles attached to it, 
gun, water skin, carpet bag, &c. Luckily that part of 
the desert was of a soft and sandy, not as in many 
places, of a stony rocky character, or my fall might 
have been as serious as it was in reality matter for 
jocular remark from my two companions and the Arabs. 
The great height of a camel's back renders a fall in such 
a case more dangerous than from a horse, but the 
generally slow staid demeanour of these most odious 
and disgusting of all domesticated animals, causes a 
similar occurrence to that which befel myself to be 
much rarer than on horseback. I must say however, 
that much as I dislike the animal for its manners and 
disagreeable qualities, and the negative nature of the 
few good ones it possesses, that I have found camel 
riding to be infinitely better than I expected after the 



120 



LETTERS OF 



first day or two ; the fatigue is almost nothing of a day's 
journey of from eight to ten hours, the pace is very 
easy, enabling you to compose yourself to a reverie as 
you. traverse the burning track of white, yellow, or red 
sand, or the glowing rugged rocks under a cloudless 
sky, hour after hour, with little feeling of weariness; 
whilst from your lofty seat on the camel's hump, you 
constantly enjoy a good view of the country you are 
passing over at the ordinary pace of from two and a 
half to three miles an hour. At Abou Doun El Haw- 
eshab, we engaged donkeys early on the morning of 
February 18th to convey us to the Pyramids of Neuri 
(so called from a neighbouring village of that name), 
the more distant of the two groups from Meroweh, or 
about five miles from that deserted town. These 
Pyramids stand like their more renowned fellows near 
Cairo, on the verge of a desert, amid drift sand, and 
heaps of rubbish, but no tombs. They are very numer- 
ous, placed without the smallest attention to order or 
arrangement, many are still so far entire that their out- 
line is preserved, and like those at Memphis they appear 
whole at a distance, but on a nearer inspection, they 
will be found equally disjointed and dilapidated. These 
Pyramids and those of Napata or Gebel Berkel, are 
exactly of the same form and dimensions : I can guess 
that they are on an average about forty feet high, and 
their angles of inclination are much more acute than 
those of the Egyptian structures of the same kind ; like 
them, those of Neuri, have, now at least, no casing. The 
stone they are built of is of two or three kinds, a white 
and extremely soft limestone, similar to that of the 
great Pyramids of Geezeh, and one or two species of 
red or yellow conglomerate, of the coarsest, and most 
crumbling description that can be conceived. As the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 13. 



121 



country here is within the limits of the periodical tro- 
pical rains, it is surprising how these Pyramids can have 
so long resisted the influence of the weather, made as 
they are of such perishable stone. On the 19th, we set 
out on donkey back for the ancient supposed site of 
Napata and the Pyramids adjacent, usually known as 
those of Gebel Berkel, from the fine rock or mountain 
of that name, under which both are situated. The ruins 
of Napata are not extensive, but the remains of several 
buildings still exist above ground, and what is singular, 
some slender columns are yet erect, and tolerably per- 
fect, whilst every other part of the ruin is thrown down. 
In the face of the mountain is a rock temple, with some 
of the best designed and executed sculptures and hiero- 
glyphics I have seen in Egypt, and the capitals of the 
columns are very tastefully designed in a style quite 
different from any pattern I ever saw before. We ob- 
served one or two finely polished blocks of grey or blue 
granite with sculptured cornices, (perhaps sarcophagi), 
but nothing else of note amongst the ruins. The 
weather to-day and yesterday, was remarkably cold, 
with very high east wind, and clouds of sand from the 
desert. We observed the names of one or two English 
travellers on the walls of this remote and beautiful rock- 
temple, which faces the ruins of the ancient city, of 
which no doubt, it formed one of the most considerable 
edifices. The Pyramids stand on the desert, about three 
quarters of a mile from the ruins, and are thirteen in 
number ; eight are merely crumbling masses of stone ; 
the remaining five are generally speaking, in a wonder- 
ful state of preservation, almost as entire as when first 
erected. Their average height, as we found by measure- 
ment, is about forty-two feet, they are all built in steps, 
but the stones are not above thirten inches thick, and it 



122 



LETTERS OF 



was by counting the number of courses, that we were 
enabled to ascertain the height of the whole structure. 
The angles are very neatly finished with quoins of 
whiter stone than the rest of the building, but the apex 
of each Pyramid is gone. The acuteness of the angle 
of inclination was such, that I could not venture to 
mount the courses, (as I easily did those of the Pyra- 
mids of Cheops) without a feeling of giddiness soon 
coming on ; but my sailor friends achieved the ascent 
without difficulty, and carved their names on the flat 
top of one of the principal and most perfect. These 
Pyramids, like those of Neuri, stand grouped without 
arrangement, contiguous to, and at all angles to each 
other, and each Pyramid has a stone porch, adorned 
with sculpture and hieroglyphics : sometimes the roof 
or ceiling of the porch is painted in colours, still in very 
tolerable preservation, but evincing a rude state of the 
art ; some of the sculpture is extremely well executed, 
and very curious as to subject and design. We found 
very few memorials of European travellers upon these 
Pyramids, so we held ourselves excused in gratifying 
the national predilection for this way of acquiring im- 
mortality, by carving our names enclosed in an oval or 
cartouche, and each name again separately on different 
Pyramids. Mine, I cut at full length, and in large 
Eoman letters, with month and year, inside one of the 
porches, the roof of which was badly painted with lotus 
wreaths, just over the name of Prince Puckler Muskau, 
who has left no memorial of the date of his visit. In 
one Pyramid only, did we find any entrance from the 
porch, all the rest were closed with blocks of stone : in 
the exceptional case, the opening led only to an 
irregular cavity, as if purposely broken up in search of 
a sepulchral chamber; but the penetrated Pyramids, 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 13. 



123 



here and at Neuri, appear to shew that they were all 
constructed solidly from the first, the centre being filled 
with loose stones or rubble. On our return to our 
hovel at Al Dour, through beautiful fields of ripe, and 
ripening, as well as springing barley and wheat, we 
visited the now nearly deserted town of Meroweh. 
There is a work entitled " Hosldn's Travels in Ethiopia," 
^ hich is highly spoken of by Sir Gardner Wilkinson ; 
in tins book there is doubtless a full account of every 
object of interest along the route we have taken from 
Wady Halfeh to Khartoun, and as such, it would be 
worth your while enquiring for, or ordering it for the 
Club. 

February 20th. Left Al Doun El Hawasheb on 
camels, across the desert for Metummeh, a large 
straggling place a few miles above Shendy, but on the 
opposite side of the river, and to which, since the de- 
struction of the former place by the troops of Mohammed 
Bey Deftender, in revenge for the murder, by the chief 
of the province, of the youngest son of Mehemet Ali 
in 1822, the trade of Shendy has been transferred. The 
Wadys, or little valleys between the hills in this desert, 
contain many trees and thickets, and there is good water 
at intervals, but we were forced at first to put up with 
that from a deep stagnant reservoir of natural formation 
in a rocky bason supplied by the periodical rains, and 
which now emitted a putrid smell, and was filled with 
various impurities. The next day, we gladly changed 
it for spring water, at a group of wells to which all the 
neighbouring tribes resort to water their flocks at stated 
intervals. The heat in crossing this desert was very 
considerable, but the nights were always deliciously 
cool, and indeed unpleasantly so at day-break, and for 
some time afterwards, but the air on the desert is so 



124 



LETTERS OF 



perfectly dry, that we slept every night under the 
canopy of stars, often with a cold and high wind blow- 
ing on our beds, and even on our persons, without the 
slightest ill elfect. 

The following are the temperatures, as taken by my 
pocket thermometer :— 

1851. Shade. Sun. Time. 

Feb. 24th, desert between Meroweh & Shendy. . 87° . . H4o on hot sand. . 11 30 a.m. 

„ 27th, „ „ 95o..l26o „ 120p.m. 

Mar. 1st, Metummeh, in the tent 98° . . 137© on dry earth. .20,, 

„ 2nd, „ „ .. .. 101o..l46o „ noon. 

„ 2nd, „ „ .... 106o..l42o „ 2 p.m. 

„ 4th, in a hut, at Koornar 102<> noon. 

„ 4th, „ „ 102o.. 1520 2 0p.m. 

Although these temperatures exceeded any to which I 
had been hitherto exposed, and on the 2nd and 5th of 
March the air and earth glowed like a furnace, with a 
stifling hot S.E. wind, I felt not the slightest incon- 
venience, and hardly any discomfort when seated on my 
camel in the full rays of the sun. My companions felt 
the heat a little, but thank God, we continued all well, 
and even at our mid-day's baitings enjoyed our dinner 
with the thermometer at, or above 100° in our tent 
under an acacia, (or when at a village), in some deserted 
mud hovel, which last are always extremely cool, owing 
to the great thickness of the walls. 

On the 28th we arrived at Metummeh, having tra- 
versed the distance from Meroweh (160 miles) in nine 
days. This is a great straggling town or collection of 
wretched hovels of mud and crude brick, like all other 
towns in Soudan : we encamped near the river side at 
some little distance from the place. The Nile, though 
now so low, and consequently so contracted in its 
channel is still a noble stream, bearing freshness and 
verdure wherever it meanders, hence the temperature 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 13. 



125 



along its banks is always cooler than that of the adjoining 
country, and accustomed as we have been for weeks 
past to a continued high temperature, that which we 
enjoy on the river, or in its vicinity, feels quite moderate 
and agreeable; the general range of the thermometer 
at noon, and at 2 p.m. being from 85° to 92°, but at this 
moment, the air is particularly cool from the continuance 
of strong northerly winds, which are daily expected to 
cease, when very hot weather will surely succeed. We 
left Metummeh on the third day from our arrival for 
this place ( Khartoun) where we have been ever since ; 
but shall start in a day or two by boat for Shendy, 
Berber, and Abou Hamel, visiting on our way the 
pyramids of Assuer near the site of the ancient Meroe. 
At Berber we again engage camels for Abou Hamel, 
from whence we take our way across a tree-less, herb- 
less, and in part water-less desert, to Korosko, where our 
little bark has for nearly three months been awaiting 
our return to Cairo. 

We were most civilly and kindly received by the 
chief people both Franks and Turks at this place, and 
most courteously and affably by the governor of the 
vast province of Khartoun, Latif Pasha, to whom we 
were introduced, and from whom we received a govern- 
ment order for camels at Berber. The manners and 
customs of this strange, wild, out of the way corner of 
the world, are so entirely different from our own, that it 
would require much more time and space than I can 
spare to give even a sketch of our numerous and often 
droll adventures; besides this, the reed pens are the 
most unfit of all instruments for voluminous commu- 
nications, I must therefore reserve my account of our 
proceedings amongst Arabs and Turks for a verbal 
narrative of foreign travel. 





126 


LETTERS OF 

i 




Owing to the continuance of strong northerly winds, 
and to the situation of the place between two broad 
rivers, the temperature of Khartoun continues to be 
very moderate for the advancing season, it being usually 
about 90° — -92° in the house at mid-day; the evenings 
and mornings, especially the latter, extremely fresh and! 
cool, quite like summer mornings in England. 

I quite forgot to mention in its proper place, that on i 
our way from Meroweh to Metummeh we visited, at a 
spot called Gebal ab Gazal, or the mountain of the 
gazelles, one of those ancient Christian temples of which 
in early times there were so many in Ethiopia. It is 
now in ruins, but a great part of the walls are standing, 
and the cross nave and chancel, are still perfectly dis- 
tinguishable as in our modern churches, whilst the 
frequent occurrence of the cross sculptured on the walls 
betokens the Christian character of the edifice. 

We all look forward to getting back to Cairo, about 
the middle, or towards the end of May ; sooner it is not 
probable we should arrive there, as we shall have still to 
visit some objects of interest at Thebes, the Memnonium, 
Medinet Habou, the tombs of the kings, the two Colossi 
in the Nile, and to take a second and parting look at 
Dendereh, Luxor, and Darfour, which we left till our 
return northwards ; besides which, we propose a ride for 
a couple of days into the Fayoum, a singular district, 
being an oasis in the desert, a little to the south of Cairo, 
and remarkable for the manners and customs of the 
people who are mostly Copts. 

When you write to H. tell him that he would find 
abundant amusement in Soudan (Ethiopia Proper) 
amongst the innumerable multitude of birds that inhabit 
this region, and the whole vallev of the Nile : the 
number of individuals is perfectly astonishing, and the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No, 13. 


127 


species themselves numerous. Birds of prey abound 
as in Egypt, hawks, kites, eagles, vultures, are ever 
seen in the air; the multitude of aquatic fowl is in- 
credible, geese, herons, storks, cranes, spoonbills, ibises, 
pelicans actually swarm, and fill the air with their 
myriads. Every grove resounds with the cooing of 
doves, of which we have killed five or six different 
species between Cairo and Khartoun, the species chang- 
ing with the latitude. Many European genera are 
amongst the commonest of those inhabiting this country. 
Wag-tails, white throats, larks, plovers, and sparrows 
are seen everywhere ; in many cases apparently identical 
with our English species ; as for instance, the sky lark, 
common plover, or lap-wing, and perhaps the ordinary 
sparrow of the country, which comes exceedingly close 
to our common house sparrow, if it be not the very 
same bird ; being equally domestic and familiar, and 
even more plentiful than in Europe. In the thickets 
and groves along the Nile, and which here and there 
adorn even the desert, various richly decorated tropical 
birds are met with, but the ornithology of this part of 
Africa, like its botany, has a plain, unadorned character, 
partaking throughout of that found to prevail in the 
temperate zone. I have already collected a considerable 
number of the plants of Soudan, Nubia, and Upper 
Egypt, and all the seeds I can find for the Kew Gardens, 
together with every interesting vegetable product for 
the Museum which Sir William Hooker is now forming 
there ; but collecting in this country is attended with 
considerable trouble and difficulty, on account of the 
want of quick and ready communication between places, 
and the wretched means of transport on camel's backs, 
which spoil, and wear out everything. The few clothes 
we took with us from the boat at Wady Halfeh, are in 





128 



LETTERS OF 



a sadly dilapidated condition, and those which I put in 
my carpet bag are in tatters, the linen is far too fine, and 
delicate for such rough travelling as we are now per- ; 
forming in barbarous Africa. Your little housewife has 
been in constant requisition amongst our party, and our 
servants, one or two of whom are tolerably expert at 
their needle, i.e. can darn, patch, and coarsely hem, or 
sew on buttons, but nothing more : my two sailor com- 
panions, can of course, do a little in the way of tailoring j 
and needlework, but ironing and mangling, are processes 
unknown in this country, and our linen is therefore got 
up in the roughest possible style. And now, dear E. 
fare thee well — I shall write again as soon as possible, 
and send this by the government post or courier, to 
anticipate my arrival in Cairo, which I hope (Inshallah I) 
will be in about six weeks time, or two months at 
farthest. I long to reach Ernout, ( the ancient Her- 
manthis ) in Upper Egypt, that I may have tidings of 
you from Mr. Fox. 

With my kind regards to all my friends at Byde and 
elsewhere. 

* * * * 
Always your affectionate Brother, 
Abou Hasheesh.* 



(Letter XIV.) 

My dear E 

e started from Wady Halfeh ill supplied with the 
requisites for so long a journey as we actually made : 

* Father of Grass — name given to W. A. B. by the Arabs. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 14. 



129 



our original intention not being to proceed further than 
New Dongola ; but the remains of antiquity at Neuri, 
Gebel Berkel, and ancient Meroe, with a wish to ascend 
the Nile as high, or even higher than the junction of 
the main stream with the White and Blue rivers, enticed 
us onwards till our stores failed us, or became too scanty 
to be used every day. In many districts we had great 
difficulty in obtaining our usual supply of goats' 
milk ; and the heat soon turned it sour, if we attempted 
to keep it for our usual morning and evening meal o 
rice-milk : failing in this, we were thrown upon black 
coffee, and bread indescribably hard, stale, bitter, and 
dirty. The extreme poverty and destitution of the 
peasantry made it utterly impossible to get a piece of 
even three or four piastres changed to pay for the little 
milk they had to spare us for money, and even in the 
towns and large villages, small coin for a Turkish dollar 
of twenty piastres (about three shillings and sixpence), 
was rarely to be had. The coinage of this unhappy 
country is in so debased, depreciated, and complicated a 
state, that the people scrutinize all money offered to 
them with the utmost care, and should it prove, as it 
often does, of a denomination, the exact value of which 
they do not understand, they will absolutely refuse to 
take it in payment. This happened so frequently in 
Nubia and Ethiopia, (where scarcely any coin passes 
among the poorer classes, who most of them transact 
their bargains by barter), that money was scarcely of any 
service to us, even where, as was not often the case, we 
were possessed of change in the smallest denomination 
i.e. the para or fuddah, forty of which make a piastre. 
We were daily exposed to the most vexatious squabbles 
with the inhabitants of both town and country, as well 
as with our camel drivers, on the subject of the real or 



I 



130 



LETTERS OF 



present value of the money we gave them in purchase 
for goods and for service. 

By far the greater part of the entire distance from 
Wady Halfeh to Korosko was performed on camels, by 
which mode of conveyance we travelled nearly one 
thousand miles, pitching our tent when in the desert, 
and sleeping in it whilst the cold nights lasted; but 
when at a town or village, we either took up our abode 
in what was called by courtesy, a house, or bivouacked 
under the open canopy of heaven in the street, and no 
mode of sleeping was more pleasant to us than to have 
our pallet bedsteads thus set out in some open space, 
and lie gazing on the stars overhead till we fell asleep, 
which we were never long in doing. The village dogs 
always shewed much more curiosity at our Frank 
encampment than the human inhabitants ; and although 
our things were lying about in all directions, linen, 
carpet bags, kitchen utensils, &c, and not one amongst 
us ever remained awake to keep watch, or dreamed of 
such a thing, not the smallest article was ever missing. 
One day, close to the great town of Metummeh, our 
Arab servants, whilst they went to amuse themselves in 
the town, most unwarrantably left the tent pitched by 
the river, without a single person to look after the 
property. I happened to return, and found our camp 
thus deserted, but nothing had been touched. 

I must however, do our servants the justice to say, 
that excepting their Arab faults of occasional careless- 
ness and supineness, their conduct has been uniformly 
most praiseworthy, and we may consider ourselves as ex- 
tremely fortunate in having people so honest, and, in the 
main, trustworthy, about us. Our cook, Said Ibraham, 
is an Egyptian Copt of the neighbourhood of Siout, 
a very honest, industrious, good tempered, and singular 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 14. 



to say, very cleanly fellow ; altogether, from these 
qualities, and his professional skill, he has been invalu- 
able to us, and he will accompany me I hope into Syria 
as a servant, where his knowledge of the country, and 
the language, and his being a Christian, will be so many 
advantages. Mohammed, a youth of about sixteen, and 
Achmed, a young man of about twenty-five, who took 
his brother's place at Ourdeh (New Dongola), as 
Mr. Lakes' attendant, are both Mahometans of the 
Berber country — the former, a well-disposed, honest, 
tractable, and intelligent lad, of much originality of 
character ; Achmed, a grave, sedate, and (for an Arab), 
careful person, who can speak a little English and 
Italian, but I do not like him quite so well as his less 
accomplished brother Ameen, who remained behind at 
Ourdeh at the wish of an aged mother who could not 
bear to have both her sons away at the same time. 
Achmed seems to think he shall find his brother Hamed 
Saafee (the keeper of the hippopotamus in London), at 
Cairo on our return; but I consider it unlikely that he 
would quit his situation till the Great Exhibition which 
will draw over so many sight-seeing foreigners to Eng- 
land, is over in October : for he makes a great deal of 
money, his brother says, by douceurs received from 
visitors to the gardens. Talking of hippopotami, we 
saw several when in the upper country above Berber, 
and in the White river, and could sometimes hear them 
blowing in the water at night : we never saw them on 
land, and could only see their broad truncated snouts, 
and part of their huge heads occasionally raised above 
the surface. They are not at the present day to be 
found below Berber. 

As to crocodiles, Mr. Lakes, an excellent shot with 
his rifle, killed at least three of these monsters on the 



132 


LETTERS OF 


i 


sand-banks, but never could secure their bodies, as on 
being mortally wounded, they always contrive to 
flounder into the water, where they either sink dead, 
the body not rising till after, at least, twenty-four hours 
when decomposition has begun, or they come on shore 
after some time to die. The crocodile is a very timid 
animal, and I firmly believe rarely, if ever, ventures to 
attack an adult, and then only in the water, never on 
land ; but there is no doubt that they will seize children 
who venture into shallow water where they abound : 
an instance of a little girl having met with such a fate 
occurred at a village on our southern route, the very 
day before our arrival. The Arabs along the Nile 
never evince the least fear of crocodiles ; the boatmen 
are constantly paddling about in the water to shove 
their boats off the innumerable sand-banks that obstruct 
the navigation in all parts of this immensely long river ; 
and I have seen large birds strutting about almost with- 
in a foot or two of their huge jaws as they lie basking 
on the banks, a dozen or more together, and have even 
seen them perch on the top of the crocodiles' heads. 
The real danger to a man, should he be able to approach 
so wary an animal near enough to receive injury (which 
could happen only in the case of one disabled by a 
wound), would be from a stroke of his powerful tail. 
Their mode of gliding into the water when disturbed, 
is by a slow motion like that of some gigantic serpent 
or fish; they then look very slippery, and as if all 
joints and suppleness. 

% * * * 

Always, my dear E ., 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 15. 



133 



(Letter XV.) 

On boakd the Nile Boat Mary Victoria, 
Between Korosko and Assouan, 

April 27th, 1851. 

My dear E 

Behold me once more on board our snug little boat 
gliding down the mighty stream towards Cairo, which 
we hope to reach about the last week of the now 
approaching month of May. Mr. Pengelly and myself 
arrived at Korosko on the evening of the 24th, after an 
absence from the boat of ninety-nine days, since the 16th 
of January, when we quitted it at Wady Halfeh for 
New Dongola (Ourdeh) by camels. These hundred 
days have been full of incident ; of much pleasure 
mingled with much inconvenience ; and sometimes with 
much discomfort from the dirt, dust, heat, cold, bad 
lodging, and worse diet, which it was our lot to put up 
with at various times. Still these would have been light 
and transient evils, worthy only of being forgotten as soon 
as passed, — and indeed they mostly served as subjects 
for merriment to us at the moment, — but it pleased the 
Almighty to throw a deep gloom over the latter part of 
our Ethiopian journey, by removing one of our little 
party of three by death. Our young friend and fellow- 
traveller, Mr. Lakes, died at Berber on the 6th of this 
month, after an illness of ten days, caused by a malig- 
nent eruptive fever of the country, called Jiddereh or 



134 


LETTERS OF 




Jeddereh, and very analogous in its symptoms to the 
small pox. At Khartoun we occupied the house of the 
inspecting surgeon to the troops there, M. Pennay, then 
absent on a professional visit to Kordafan ; and in a part 
of the premises adjacent to those we inhabited, was a 
black man in the worst stage of this most loathsome 
malady, whom, however, we left on the 21st of March, 
on quitting Khartoun, far advanced towards recovery, 
and quite out of danger. This man was all we saw, and 
there can be little doubt, that from him poor Mr. Lakes 
caught the infection. 

The passage from Khartoun to Berber was made in a 
boat of the country, an ill-built, leaky, confined craft, 
literally swarming with rats, cockroaches, and bugs, the 
former two running over our beds at night, they being 
only formed by our mattrasses spread on the floor of 
the cabin, which was merely large enough to contain 
two of the party, the third being obliged to sleep out- 
side. The cabin just sufficiently high to sit upright in, 
and with a narrow space of about a foot between the 
beds, was covered with dirt of all kinds. To add to our 
discomfort, the strong north wind blowing in through 
the crazy panelling, deposited a thick layer of drift 
sand from the contiguous desert, on our clothes, beds, 
and other baggage, and which it was impossible to 
prevent mingling with our food whilst being dressed, 
and afterwards when served up on the dirty floor 
between the mattrasses. By night, the wind blew in 
upon us cold and furious, without our having any means 
of excluding it ; and our crew of Ethiopians stunned us 
whilst at their oars with their barbarous, vociferous, and 
monotonous chanting, sometimes for half the night 
together ; but it is not well to interdict this amusement, 
as they cease to pull with energy, if not allowed to sing 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 15. 


135 


Avliile rowing. We repassed Metammeh, inspected 
Shendy, and on the 27th visited the highly curious and 
interesting pyramids and site of ancient Meroe, a day 's 
sail below Shendy. Many of these pyramids are in 
1 admirable preservation ; their number is immense, and 
their porches are adorned with well wrought sculptures 
| and hieroglyphics. Very few Europeans, comparatively, 
I have viewed these curious monuments (commonly 
1 known now as the pyramids of Assour from a village in 
their vicinity), as well as those of Neuri, and Gebel 
Berkel Napata near Merouwah. 

Up to this date (March 27th) Mr. Lakes appeared in 
his usual state of health, which had been improving 
since we left Cairo, but on the 28th he felt very unwell, 
and expressed his fear to me that he was about to have 
an attack of fever : I gave him the only medicines I had 
at hand, proper for such a complaint, some castor-oil 
which I bought at Cairo, and a dose of Dover's powder 
on going to bed. The numerous discomforts I have 
just mentioned must have greatly aggravated his com- 
plaints : but he bore them with the most exemplary 
patience till we arrived at Berber on the 1st of April, 
when he was too ill to walk or ride into the town from 
the boat, and was of necessity carried on one of our 
travelling pallet bedsteads or Ungereels to our lodgings. 
In this wretched town of Berber there is but a single 
European resident, a worthy Frenchman, M. Lafargue, 
who carries on the usual commerce of the country in 
gum, ivory, ebony, &c. Mr. Pengelly and myself 
immediately waited on this gentleman, and stating our 
distressing condition, he at once reported our arrival to 
the no less worthy Turkish Governor, who instantly 
ordered one of the most airy and commodious houses m 
the place to be got ready for us, and into which poor 





136 


LETTERS OF 




Mr. Lakes was forthwith removed from the rats and 
vermin of the boat, already covered from head to foot 
with an eruption like the small-pox, and which speedily 
assumed the appearance of that which we had seen on 
the black man at Khartoun, but still fuller, and far 
more confluent. Had Mr. Lakes not assured me that 
he had been vaccinated, I should have supposed that he 
laboured under small-pox in its most malignant shape, 
but I never saw even in that disease, an eruption so 
frightful. 

I was sorely puzzled how to act, without any medi- 
cine but castor-oil, and a little compound powder of 
Ipecacuanha. M. Lafargue was no doctor, but assisted 
me with the means of administering castor-oil. I 
allowed Mr. Lakes nothing but a little barley-water, 
and endeavoured to keep him as cool as possible in a 
room the temperature of which was but little below 100°, 
and out of doors, still higher. Strange to say, with so 
confluent an eruption, there was not one urgent or 
alarming symptom, the pulse was strong to the last, and 
the fever very moderate, the head not at all affected till 
within a few hours of his death. In this way he went 
on for eight days, and as I hoped even improving, not- 
withstanding the intense heat of the weather (which 
the absolute want of the commonest conveniences of 
life in this barbarous and poverty stricken land, made it 
impossible to mitigate), and the tormenting swarms of 
flies which it required instant attention to drive away 
from his face and arms. 

At this time we received a visit from a native Arab 
doctor, employed as medical inspector of the few 
wretched troops in garrison here, at Shendy, and other 
places in the provinces ; who stated that he called in 
consequence of the reports he had received of a 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 15. 



137 



European being ill at Berber, and to offer his services if 
acceptable. As this man had studied medicine in 
Egypt under the celebrated Clot Bey, I consented, 
after consulting with Mr. Pengelly and M. Lafargue, 
to let him see Mr. Lakes ; when he instantly pro- 
nounced his case to be Jeddereh in a worse form than 
he had ever met with in any native subject ; indeed our 
poor young friend presented a spectacle truly dis- 
tressing, scarcely a feature in his mild and rather 
handsome countenance being recognisable. In this 
perplexing state of things, we all agreed that it would 
be advisable to leave the management of an unknown 
disease in the hands of a native practitioner who held a 
position of trust and responsibility. This man's treat- 
ment was confined to the application of a large bread 
poultice to the stomach, and simply administering elder 
or orange-flower water, keeping the patient as before on 
barley-water ; but, instead of allowing the access of as 
much fresh and cool air as the weather and imperfect 
ventilation would admit of, he ordered Mr. Lakes to be 
enclosed under mosquito curtains, — alleging, on my 
venturing to hint the expediency of a cooler regimen, 
that it was the invariable custom in this complaint to 
keep the patient warm, because, as I understood him to 
say, free exposure to so dry an air as that of Africa, 
tended to repel the eruption : he pronounced his patient 
to be going on taib keteer (very well), and said that the 
crisis usually took place on the tenth day from the first 
symptoms appearing. 

On the 6th, Mr. Lakes seemed, if not improved, at 
least not at all worse, excepting that I perceived a 
slight confusion, or rather slowness in his answers, 
which I attributed to exhaustion from heat and want of 
nourishment ; his pulse was still strong, and he actually 



138 



LETTERS OF 



got of? his close confined couch, and walked into our 
room with his pillow under his arm at a steady pace, 
intending to seek for coolness on our pallet bedstead; 
the fever was moderate, but his face swollen and 
disfigured. We persuaded him easily to return to his 
bed : the doctor called early in the forenoon, gave a 
favourable opinion, and said that he should return in an 
hour, which he never did. Soon afterwards, Mr. Lakes 
fell into a quiet sleep, from which, being in hourly 
expectation of the doctor's return, we did not of course 
wish him to wake ; the latter however not making his 
appearance even till long past noon, and Mr. Lakes 
continuing unusually quiet, I went to his bedside to 
see if he were awake, or wanted anything. Something, 
I hardly know why, misgave me, as I lifted the mos- 
quito curtains, and perceived he was gone. Mr. Lakes 
was only twenty-one years of age, of a most mild, placid 
disposition, and during the whole of his illness not a 
single complaint escaped his lips ; suffering as he must 
have done from the intense heat, and the privations of 
a barbarous country, in which nothing like European 
comforts could be procured. His remains were interred 
the same evening, by the permission of the few Coptic 
Christians resident in Berber, in their cemetery on the 
desert, a short mile out of the town ; the grave was 
lined and roughly vaulted with crude bricks, set with 
mud instead of mortar. The body was simply wrapped 
in folds of new calico; for had the weather allowed 
time for making a coffin, the place could not have 
afforded wood for its construction, and a workman would 
have required several days to get it finished after having 
procured the wood and nails ; so slothful are the people, 
and so destitute of even the commonest tools and 
materials of civilized society, in this degenerated country. 



W. A. BE OM FIELD. — No . 15. 



139 



The Copts are usually held to be an exceedingly bigoted 
sect, proudly intolerant of all other Christian denomi- 
nations ; and therefore their liberality in freely permit- 
ting a member of a widely different church to lie in 
their own consecrated ground, we felt very gratefully ; 
their example might be imitated with advantage by 
many much nearer home. These worthy Copts even 
themselves assisted as bearers in carrying poor Mr. 
Lakes to his last earthly resting place ; and our Moslem 
attendants and acquaintances shewed no religious an- 
tipathy in their visits of condolence, or by refusing to 
perform any little office necessitating contact with the 
deceased. 

Nothing could exceed the kindness of Mr. Lafargue, 
and the liberal attentions of the amiable and enlightened 
Turkish governor, Ali Hasseab Bey, who sent us his own 
private bath, and twice supplied us with Castor oil, for 
which he was obliged to send a janissary to search the 
town. In countenance, address, and suavity of deport- 
ment, he would have passed as a perfect gentleman at 
any European court ; he invited us, ( Mr. Pengelly and 
myself), to dine with him the day after our arrival a la 
Turc, and although he spoke but very little French, and 
still less Italian, I could perceive that he was a man of 
superior mind. 

I may here remark that since leaving Wady Halfeh, 
French has been of immense use to me, as we have 
been thrown almost entirely into the society of foreign- 
ers, the few Europeans we have met having been either 
French, Italians, or Greeks. I am glad to say that very 
few indeed of our own countrymen are to be found 
engaged in the business of merchant adventurers, most 
of whom are slave dealers, besides their other occupations, 
and renegadoes who have abjured the habits, and thrown 



1 


140 


LETTERS OF 




off the claims of their native country, adopting the 
demi-civilization of the higher class of the land of their 
continued sojourn, for trading purposes. One such 
however, there is, who divides his time between Khartoun p 
and Kordofan, Mr. -Petherick : he has been made 
British consular agent at the former place. The few 
fellow countrymen we have seen in business have been 
chiefly in Egypt, plain, respectable men, holding sta- 
tionary ofhces in the pay of the Pasha as superintendents 
of gardens, public or private works, &c. Mr. Trail, for 
instance, and Mr. Fox of Ernout, and Mr. Eainsford of 
Rhoda, 

The little society to be found at Khartoun consists 
entirely of the few merchant adventurers settled there, 
(and who are always on the move backwards and forwards 
to and from Cairo, Kordofan, Fay, &c), with the Turk- 
ish authorities. Military officers, &c. of the place. The 
Europeans fall in completely with the semi-civilized life 
of the Turks, and a detestable, demoralized state of 
society is the result, as dull and unintellectual as can be 
conceived; everything below this small select circle, 
such as it is, is utter barbarism, destitution, or oppression. 
No lady has been visible in any house we have entered 
since leaving Egypt, all the Europeans are understood 
to have their harem; and to enquire after the lady of 
the house would be considered a great breach of decorum, 
supposing, as is sometimes the case, any woman entitled 
to that distinction on strictly connubial grounds, to be 
really at the head of the household. I should however 
be most ungrateful to our temporary friends at Khartoun 
were I to omit acknowledging their uniform hospitality, 
and desire to make our stay amongst them agreeable by 
every means in their power ; and to say the truth, there 
was no lack of amusing incidents, and we gained an 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 15. 



141 



excellent insight into Turkish ways and habits of living 
during our stay. I shall have a fund of odd anecdotes 
' and adventures to amuse you with on my return. 

There is something very prepossessing in the manners 
of the Turks of the higher class : we paid our respects 
severally to the governors of Ourdeh ( New Dongola) 
Khartoun, and Berber, and found them all men of the 
world, polite, affable, and gentlemanly. The governor of 
Khartoun, Latif Pasha, received us most courteously, 
and gave us a government order as ruler of the province, 
on the governor of Berber, for camels to Abou Hamed 
and Korosko; yet this man, only two or three months 
before, murdered his own wife, and it is supposed that 
his conduct may be still made a subject of judicial en- 
quiry at Constantinople, unless he can buy off the inves- 
tigation, which no doubt he can do, as the salaries of 
such governors are enormous, and regularly paid, which 
is not the case with those of inferior functionaries. 
Latif Pasha appeared to us to be perfectly at his ease, 
and conversed in Arabic and Italian with my fellow- 
travellers and myself. 

Poor Mr. Lakes is the second Englishman who has 
died within three months in this barbarous corner of the 
world. You must I imagine have read in the papers, 
or otherwise heard of the sudden death of Mr. M., a 
wealthy Liverpool merchant, which happened in the 
desert between Berber El Maghyr and Abou Hamed, in 
January last, about a day's journey by camels short of 
the latter place. Mr. M. who was considerably past 
sixty years of age, conceived the singular idea of making 
a tour from Cairo to the junction of the Blue and White 
rivers with his family, consisting of himself, Mrs. M. his 
daughter and two sons, all grown up. They pursued 
exactly the same route and plan as ourselves ; left their 



142 




LETTERS OF 




boat at Wady Halfeh with instructions to drop down the 
river to Korosko 3 there to await their return. On 
passing that place about the 10th or 12th of January, 
we saw the boat which had come from Wady Halfeh a 
few days before. Mr. M. seems to have travelled en 
prince throughout, with a great train of camels and 
servants. This family taking as I have said the same 
route as ourselves, by Old and New Dongola, Metum- 
meh, Shendy, &c. visiting the pyramids of Neuri, Gebel 
Berkel, and Meroe (Assouan,) by the way, arrived safely 
on their return as far as Berber ; but on traversing the 
desert between Berber and Abou Hamed, Mr. M. was 
suddenly taken ill; accounts vary as to whether it was 
fever, or a coup de soleil, probably the latter, which is 
said to be more prevalent during the winter than the 
summer months, on account of the increased excitability 
of the system by the vast difference of temperature 
between the day and night at that season; the latter 
being as we experienced, bitterly cold, whilst the ther- 
mometer will be at 90° or even 100° in the shade at noon 
the twelve hours following. Mr. M. died in six days ; 
the head of a family, and of an extensive mercantile 
firm, cut off in an African desert, with his family 
indeed around him, but without the least medical aid at 
hand, and with no greater comfort than a tent could 
afford, or at best, a mud hovel, into which I believe he 
was ultimately removed ; as his death took place not far 
from a small hamlet where we had bivouacked for the 
night on traversing the same ground about a fortnight 
before. 

This part of the road is far from being pure desert, 
having small trees, and occasionally a few huts here and 
there, and the track lies near the river all the way from 
Berber to Abou Hamed, Mr. M's. remains were interred 



IV. A. BR OMFIELD. -No. 15. 



143 



beside the main (camel) track, on a spot over which a 
memorial of crude brick has been raised perhaps three 
; feet above the level of the ground. The distress of his 
, family, and their embarrassment at this sudden stroke, — 
left in so remote a place, with the body of a husband 
and a father, may be easily conceived. Nothing however 
could be done but to make the best of their way across 
the Great desert to Korosko, where we have since heard 
they arrived safely. 

We were extremely fortunate in our passage of the 
Great desert between Abou Hamed and Korosko, a 
distance of 250 miles, which was accomplished on 
camels in ten days, travelling mostly by night, and 
resting during a great part of the day, when we spread 
our mattrasses in some cave, or on a projecting ledge of 
rock, and so slept away the most sultry hours. 

Our fare during this time was very scanty and in- 
nutritious ; no meat, milk, or vegetables to be had ; a 
little boiled rice or maccaroni, with a few dates, a kind 
of rusk called Baksumet, almost uneatable from its 
bitterness and staleness, with a cup of coffee, — such was 
our desert fare ; our drink, water, out of filthy skins. 

This desert is indeed a u great and terrible wilderness," 
and every one we spoke with concerning it, gave it a 
bad character. We left Abou Hamed on the 15th 
April, and reached Korosko late on the 24th, and, 
though in so advanced a season, strange to say, we felt 
more inconvenience from the cold of the desert at night 
than from the heat by day. Such was the chilliness of 
the nights, that I have shivered under my blanket as I 
lay on the mattrass spread on the stony and sandy 
ground, although wrapped in a thick pilot cloth coat; 
whilst we could sleep soundly under a rock by day, 
when the lifeless landscape of red and yellow sand, out 



144 


LETTERS OF 




of which everywhere rose hills like huge heaps of half 
burnt coals, or molten iron, was glowing, as if actually 
on fire ; our camels all the while lying around our 
bivouac, fully exposed to the sun at a temperature of 
150° or more. About 2 p.m. whilst the heat was still | 
intense, we mounted, and pursued our journey till about 
half-past six, then rested for about an hour, took coffee, 
remounted, and continued our way till 11 or 12, when 
we spread our mattrasses on the ground and slept till 3 ; 
we then resumed our journey till sun-rise, after which 
we halted till 2 in the afternoon as before, for breakfast, 
dinner, and rest. Occasionally when circumstances 
called for the change, we altered these arrangements in 
some degree ; but the above were the usual hours for 
rest and travelling. This desert is the very acme of 
lifelessness and sterility, and is strewed at intervals 
throughout its whole length with the skeletons of camels 
and even occasionally of human beings that have 
perished in its solitudes. The number of unfortunate 
animals that succumb to fatigue under their burdens is 
incredible. We calculated that one, two, or even three 
skeletons of camels occurred on an average of every 
fifty yards of distance. The bones remain entire, and 
become bleached by the sun and air to the whiteness of 
the finest ivory ; the bodies are rapidly destroyed, not by 
the usual process of decomposition, but by vultures, and 
hysenas (of the latter we saw the tracks repeatedly), 
which devour the flesh and soft parts : the little they 
leave, together with the skin, shrivelling up quickly 
under the sun and parching air. We noticed one human 
skull, and many skeletons of oxen and horses as well 
as of camels. 

No one who has not seen it, can form the least idea 
of the intensely savage features of an Ethiopian desert, 



W. A. BE OMFIELD. — No. 15. 



145 



or of the fearfully awful solitude and silence which reign 
in it. Providentially, nearly half way across this wil- 
derness occurs a fine rocky reservoir of the purest rain 
water, which the camels cannot approach near enough to 
defile, on account of the blocks of stone which lie 
around it, This water has not in the slightest degree 
that peculiarly unpleasant taste which distinguishes rain 
water in other countries, because it descends through 
an atmosphere perfectly free from animal or vegetable 
bodies ; and no such substances are to be found in a state 
of decomposition in the natural basin at El Medinet, as 
the spot is called. Of course we replenished our water- 
skins and zemzemeers with this excellent water, which 
I found greatly superior to the flat insipid fluid so much 
praised under the name of Nile water. Our zemze- 
meers were a great comfort on our desert travelling 
from Khartoun : each of us carried one suspended from 
the saddle of the camel we rode. As I intend taking 
mine into Syria, and bringing it home to England, I 
shall only observe, that it is a large leathern bag, com- 
bining the forms of a bottle and of a bucket, such as 
you see hung up in churches and public buildings for 
serving fire engines. It has two mouths closed with 
painted wooden stoppers attached to the zemzemeer by 
thongs of leather ; the whole being suspended by a 
broad strap of the same material, to any object from 
which you wish to hang it. The zemzemeers being 
of a porous kind of leather the water slowly exudes, and 
by the rapid absorption into the air intensely dry and 
heated, the water within is cooled down to a most re- 
freshing point of refrigeration. The air of the desert 
has an extraordinarily vivifying influence on the human 
frame, which the intense heat during the day-time seems 
unable to counteract. It has passed almost into a 



K 



LETTERS OF 



proverb, that no one ever falls sick in the desert, which, 
if not literally true, is in the main correct, and certainly 
an African desert, if only well supplied with water, 
would be the best, though not the most agreeable site, 
for a Sanitarium in the world. Even with the system 
lowered as it was on starting from Abou Hamed, and 
with little to sustain or repair it on the road, the power- 
ful stimulus of the desert atmosphere almost took away 
the feeling of debility which had hung on Mr. Pengelly 
and myself for many weeks past, consequent on the 
want of the good nourishing diet we had been accus- 
tomed to in Egypt. The bread and meat in Nubia and 
Ethiopia, with very few and rare exceptions, were 
execrable : the latter, I always ate with loathing, so hard, 
tough, dry, and tasteless, or else so soft, flabby and 
strong was it, whether of goat, sheep, or ox. Poultry 
and eggs are not to be had much above Wady Halfeh ; 
the Nubian eggs are remarkably small, and the poultry 
lean and stringy to the last degree. When in Egypt 
and Lower Nubia our guns furnished us with an 
excellent daily dinner of doves, which swarm in the date 
and doum groves ; but as we advanced southwards, the 
finely flavoured Egyptian dove began to be replaced by 
the Debbas of the upper and southern country, a much 
larger, but in flavour far inferior species of the same 
bird. In the desert these failed us, but we obtained 
occasionally a few desert partridges, and in the Isle of 
Argo, the Ethiopian hare ; but both these are very far 
inferior to the English species of the same animals, in 
flavour and nutritious qualities. When in the towns, 
we could seldom procure our accustomed meal of doves, 
and fish is nowhere to be had along the valley of the 
Nile ; the occupation of fisherman is almost unknown, 
and old Nile's finny inhabitants, which are well noted 



W. A. BR OMFIEL D. — No. 16. 



147 



for their extreme insipidity, and in some cases for 
qualities positively injurious as food, are abandoned to 
the crocodiles and other river monsters. 

* * * * 

Ever my dear E., 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



(Letter XVI.) 

Head of the first Cataract just below Philoe, 
four miles above Assouan. 

My dear E ■ 

I thank God ! we are now (April 30th) on the eve 
of quitting the regions of absolute savagedom for the 
comparative civilization of Egypt, at whose southern 
portal we are awaiting the safe conduct of our little bark 
down the cataract, which is to be accomplished^ we trust, 
early to-morrow morning (May 1st). Much care and 
circumspection are requisite in the present extremely 
low state of the river, to prevent accidents from the 
boat striking the rocks at the bottom in her descent, 
and hence the sheyk of the cataract requires time to 
muster his hands, and make the necessary preparations. 

The heat from the long continuance of northerly 
winds continues to be very moderate for the advanced 



148 



LETTERS OF 



season, the thermometer at noon, and till two or three 
o'clock is usually from 90° to 95° in our cabin. At this 
moment whilst I am writing, it is at 99°, and our crew 
are stretched listlessly on deck : to myself, it is not by 
any means overpowering whilst I continue sitting, but 
somewhat too high for agreeable locomotion. The fact 
is, that for several weeks past, the thermometer having 
seldom been much under 100° in the middle of the day, 
and often several degrees above it, my system has 
become quite habituated to this high temperature, and 
anything under 90° feels quite cool and fresh. The hot 
southerly winds of May called the Khamseen, must 
now be looked for daily, and of course much hotter 
weather will be our portion, 110° to 120° in the shade. 

The river has a most forlorn deserted appearance ; all 
English tourists have long since fled its narrowed 
currents in dread of the summer heat, and we, the last 
way-worn travellers, are wending our solitary course far 
in the rear of the herd of winter visitors, whose 
ultima Thule was Wady Halfeh, or perhaps the first 
cataract. Even the natives gaze upon us as on a sort of 
unseasonable phenomenon, and we expect to look like 
very respectable lions on our arrival at Cairo, since we 
shall be the very last of the fashionable arrivals of the 
season : and the few stray birds of passage that may 
still be in the City of Victory, at this time of universal 
incandescence, will have no other lions to look at but 
ourselves. 

During the earlier part of the night, the heat under 
our mosquito curtains is considerable, and the tempera- 
ture does not lower on the water with half the rapidity 
with which it is radiated from the stony sandy desert, 
but after midnight, it becomes quite cool and pleasant, 
and the early mornings till nine o'clock, are delightfully 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 16. 


149 


fresh still. The dry heat of this climate, too, is far less 
oppressive than a much lower temperature of an atmos- 
phere holding water in solution, as India, &c. I 
thank God, that the heat agrees well with both of us : 
we have good appetites, and sleep well. 

May 3rd, Nile between Assouan and Edfou. We are 
now on the broad stream of this ancient river, beyond 
all further danger from rocks or cataracts, with a smooth 
liquid, unobstructed path open to us from hence to 
Cairo. 

On the 1st we shot the cataracts between Phiioe and 
Assouan in a masterly style, and fortunately without 
accident : it was, however, a nervous business to every 
one on board as we darted down the boiling flood, 
where the least inadvertence, want of skill or presence 
of mind in the helmsman, must have consigned our boat 
to instant destruction, with great loss of life amongst 
those on board. The river being now extremely low, 
the cataract is greatly increased in rapidity, as well as 
shallower ; and there is consequently much danger of 
the boat striking the rocky bottom in her headlong- 
career, or of being dashed against the masses of rock 
that obstruct the channels between which the torrent 
rushes. As it was, she grazed the bottom in her descent, 
with sufficient force to render her very leaky, and I fear 
we shall be detained a whole day at Esneh to have her 
haided up on shore and caulked, as the quantity of 
water she takes in causes her to sail slowly . 

The thermometer is now constantly at, and above 
100° for some hours in the day, and the breeze comes 
off the banks like a blast from an oven or furnace mouth, 
although still northerly, or north-easterly ; what it will 

T_ 1 J 1 ~|""T"1 1 * 11 f~* 1 1 

be when the Khamseen begins to blow irom the south, 
as it ought now to be doing, I cannot venture to guess, 





150 


LETTERS OF 




as the above is the temperature in the coolest corner of 
the boat that I can find for the thermometer. Great as 
this degree of heat is, it by no means interferes with 
our pursuits, reading, writing, or even going ashore, if 
there is anything to be seen or done there. I have been 
within these four hours examining the fine remains of 
the temple at Kom Ombes, in the full blaze of the sun, 
whose face I do not remember to have seen obscured 
for above a few minutes once or twice since leaving 
Cairo, November 24th. 

Philoe looked more lovely and picturesque to our 
way-worn eyes, as we passed under her ruin-crowned 
banks than she did on our upward course ; being the 
first herald of our approach to regions of comparative 
civilization and plenty ; for our Nubian and Ethiopian 
trip has been somewhat trying to body as well as mind, 
although a great deal of enjoyment has been mingled 
with our anxieties and occasional personal discomfort. 
It is an expedition I am glad to have made, but never 
wish to repeat ! 

Great consternation prevails at this time along the 
valley of the Nile, on account of the Pasha's troops 
being engaged in levying the conscription by seizing 
men in all the towns and villages, and marching them 
off in chains to Cairo, &c. to recruit the army. Three 
or four days ago, we were witnesses of this act of 
despotic power, by seeing a numerous band of these 
unhappy peasants-, who had been torn from their homes 
and families, on the point of being embarked on board a 
vessel on the Nile, for some distant part of the empire, 
guarded by cavalry, and tied together like dogs. The 
evening before, we had dispatched Mohammed and 
x\ LiiiiitiQ on tiic usual ciiaiiLi on snoie xo piocuic iiniiv, 
when they found the place entirely deserted, the adult 



W. A BR OM FIELD. — No. 16. 



I 



male population having fled to the hills to avoid the 
conscription, the women and children only remaining 
behind. 

Our gallant little bark is now turned into an asylum 
for the persecuted. Four men have sought refuge and 
protection under the British pennant, having begged a 
passage to Cairo to escape being taken for soldiers in 
their own village. Once on board a boat under a con- 
sular flag, the government cannot touch them ; they are 
under the protection of that flag pro tempore, and are 
considered as servants in the pay and employ of the 
owner or traveller. These poor people work their 
passage to the capital by taking the oars with the rest 
of the men ; they bring their own provisions (a little 
d'hourah merely), and all we give them is lodging on 
deck with our own people. 

In my next I will give you a definite direction for 
future letters, as I hope to quit Egypt for Syria as soon 
as possible after visiting Damietta, Mansoureh, Rosetta, 
and Suez, which will not occupy me long. I shall take 
Saad with me into Syria, whither I intend to proceed 
alone, as I shall soon find many acquaintances through 
my letters for Jerusalem and Bairout, and Saad is an 
admirable guide for the country with which he is well 
acquainted, as well as with many people there ; besides 
being an excellent and faithful servant, now well tried. 
I propose visiting Jerusalem, Bairout, Damascus, Con- 
stantinople, and Smyrna, and to return home either by 
sea in the Peninsular and Oriental Company's vessels, 
or by the Austrian Lloyd's line to Trieste, and across 
the continent via the north of Italy, the Rhine and 
Belgium. 

I shall do all in my power not to extend my absence 
beyond the middle of August, but I must be entirely 



152 


LETTERS OF 




dependent on the sailing of the different steamers, and 
cannot therefore calculate nay return with any degree of 
nicety. 

# # * * 




With kindest regards to all our friends, 




Believe me, 




Your affectionate Brother, 




William Arnold Bromfield. 




(Letter XVII. ) 




On Board the Mary Victoria Nile Boat, 




Between Guineh and Girzeh, Upper Eswnt, 

3 1 IT oJ I 3 




May \2th 3 1851. 




Dear E 



' E continue slowly but steadily advancing towards 
the Egyptian capital, having left Assouan, the most 
southerly frontier town of this country, on the first of 
this month. Our progress has been delayed by the 
necessary stoppages at that, and the other considerable 
towns along the river, for the purpose of recruiting our 
nearly exhausted supplies of rice, sugar, coffee, &c, as 
also to visit our good friends the Fox's at Ernout, and 
take a farewell view of Luxor, Karnac, and other lions, 
and finish the campaign by visiting the few that yet 
remained unseen by us. 



W. A. BE OMFIELD. — No. 17. 



153 



The weather since leaving Assouan has not increased 
in heat, the wind still keeping to some northerly point, 
with no appearance at present of the regular and much 
dreaded Khamseen from the southward. It is neverthe- 
less quite as warm as is agreeable, and rather more so 
during the middle of the day. By ten o'clock the ther- 
mometer lias attained 90° or 95°, when it continues 
rising very slowly but regularly till one or two p.m. at 
which time it has stood froin 98° to 103° for some weeks 
past, remaining at or near that point till four or five p.m. 
when the heat declines, and during the evening falls to 
90° or a little lower ; in the early morning the mercury 
has usually descended to 84° or 85°, which is now to our 
feelings a delightfully cool and refreshing temperature. 
Although the heat is not at this time of the year so 
great here as in the upper part of the valley of the 
Nile at Dongola, Berber, and especially on the desert, 
it is more felt in Upper Egypt than in Nubia, as the air 
begins though slightly, to participate in the moisture of 
the Mediterranean to the northward, in addition to the 
natural evaporation from the great river on which we 
are afloat ; and as water does not part, by radiation, 
with the heat it has received from the sun during the 
day, at all as readily as the bare sand does, the nights 
on board are much hotter than on shore, where we 
should therefore encamp every evening for coolness, 
could we escape molestation from mosquitoes, and also 
from the dogs and natives. We have moreover ex- 
changed the dark primitive granite rocks above 
Assouan, for the newer white limestone of the Theban 
mountains, whose bare craggy sides glow like the walls 
of a furnace in the fierce glare of the noontide sun, and 
send back the north wind in stifling puffs, causing ever 
and anon huge columns of sand to move in dark vortices 



154 


LETTERS OF 




ing to a vast height in the _ 

air like pillars of smoke from ~ , xt^mssm^r-^ 
the crater of a volcano, their ^^^W^^^^^^^^^ 
summits expanding into a "ShBt^ 
cone of a pale yellow, which jfwiflf 
gradually deepens to a dark lllif 
dun red or brown near the 
earth, according ' to their Mil? 
position with regard to the sun. When at Philoe on the 
30th of April, we experienced a strong sand-storm, 
which filled the air with impalpable dust mingled with 
coarse sand, and gave the landscape the appearance of 
being enveloped in fog ; the sky at the same time was 
covered with dark angry looking clouds, from which fell 
a few heat drops, the utmost effort to produce anything 
like a refreshing shower of which this parched climate 
is capable ; excepting at very distant intervals indeed, 
when a deluge of rain occasionally pours down on the 
Thebaid and Lower Nubia for a day or two. 

When crossing the great desert of Korosko we had, 
on a close calm cloudy night, several vivid flashes of 
sheet lightning, but neither thunder nor rain accom- 
panied these silent and innocent coruscations. I may 
remark that falling stars are extremely common, and re- 
markably large and brilliant in the clear nights of Nubia 
and Egypt : we saw several in our desert wanderings of 
startling size and splendour traverse a considerable space 
in the heavens with extreme velocity, and then disappear 
without noise. 

The most serious inconvenience we experience from 
this torrid weather, is the great difficulty of keeping one 
of our staple articles of diet, milk, for a few hours, by 
boiling and preserving it in a vessel wrapped in wet 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 17. 


155 


cloths, and placed in the coolest part of the boat. As 
we cannot always procure fresh milk at this season from 
the herdsmen and villagers on shore, we are often 
deprived of it altogether, our stock taken on board in 
the morning becoming unfit for use before dinner time ; 
and the evening supply is often precarious. Our way 
of procuring it in the wilds of the upper country above 
Dongola &c, by chasing the goats to milk them when 
the owners were not at hand to do so for us, w^ould 
amuse you in the recital. 

We found our good friends Mr. and Mrs. Fox (the 
first English faces we have seen for months), at Ernout, 
quite well, and the immense sugar works belonging to 
Mustapha Bey, a minor, rapidly progressing towards 
completion : already the huge chimneys of the engine 
and boiling houses have risen within sight of the pylons, 
obelisks, and colossal pillars of Luxor and Karnac, which 
they far overtop in height, if they do not rival them in 
beauty and celebrity. This hospitable pair wished us to 
stop some days at the works, the machinery for which, on 
a scale of great magnitude, is all from England, and 
is erected here by native workmen from Cairo, under 
the sole instruction and superintendence of Mr. Fox. 

I saw there one living, and several dead specimens of 
the terrific scorpion spider or galleode of Egypt and the 
adjacent countries ; the latter were found drowned in a 
large tank for supplying the engines; the former was 
captured in the house by Mr. Fox. The outstretched 
legs of the largest specimen measured about eight 
inches in the span. The general aspect of this hideous 
animal, is that of a gigantic spider, w T hich it resembles 
in the great length of its hairy legs, the oblong livid 
body, jointed like that ot the scorpion, is destitute ot 
any sting, instead of which the head is furnished with a 





156 


LETTERS OF 




formidable pair of sharp and very prominent pincers, 
capable of inflicting an extremely painful, though I 
believe not very venomous bite. It is a nocturnal 
animal, frequenting out-houses, and deserted apartments, 
running with incredible speed, and fearlessly attacking 
any object that is opposed to it. Mr. Fox's Arab 
servant hearing a mouse squeaking in the room one 
night as if in distress, was induced to ascertain the 
cause, when he found one of these galleodes had 
fastened upon it, but whether with the intention of 
making the mouse its prey, or from accidental offence 
given by the latter, Mr. Fox could not say. The natives 
regard its bite as not dangerous, and rather encourage 
it, as a noted destroyer of its first cousins, the scorpions. 
I have several of the above specimens (including the 
largest) in spirits, which I hope to send home with my 
plants &c. from Alexandria. 

We bade adieu to Ernout on the 7 th May at 10 p.m. 
and rose at dawn the next morning to visit the ruins of 
Medinet Habou ; the two Colossi (one of which is the 
famous supposed statue of Memnon) ; the temple, (or 
perhaps palace) of Rameses II. called the Memnonium; 
and lastly, the tombs of the kings; but the latter, we 
were obliged to postpone till the following day (9th) on 
account of the increasing morning heat after 9 or 10 
o'clock. 

The first of these remains, the temple of Medinet 
Habou, is situated near the foot of the limestone range, 
as are likewise the Colossi and Memnonium, all three 
being within half or three quarters of an hour's ride of 
each other. The remains of Medinet Habou, are im- 
posing, and very extensive, but belong to different 
epochs ; and like many other Egyptian ruins are sadly 
encumbered with heaps of rubbish, mounds, and paltry 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 17. 



hovels of crude brick, in which they are half buried, 
and their proportions concealed or destroyed. Although 
certainly possessing much grandeur, these ruins are not 
of a character to strike the non-antiquarian visitor as 
do the magnificent temples of Dendereh, Esneh, Edfou, 
and Abou Simbal ( Ipsambul), all of which are also in a 
more perfect state. 

The great temple-palace of Rameses II. commonly 
known as the Rameseum or Memnonium, must have 
been when entire, a magnificent structure, and even in 
its present shattered and razed condition, it may lay 
claim to that character, and is less encumbered than 
most of the Egyptian temples with Roman, Christian, 
or Arab dwellings of hideous unburnt brick. But the 
most remarkable object in the Memnonium, is the 
stupendous statue of Rameses II. the founder; un- 
questionably the most gigantic of ancient or modern 
times. This now prostrate and shattered colossus is of 
grey syenitic granite ; I find no account of its height 
when entire ; but Sir Gr. Wilkinson gives its estimated 
weight at 887 tons. I must say however that viewed 
as it now lies, the proportions of the statue convey but 
an indifferent idea of the artistic skill of the sculptor ; 
to myself, it appeared a sadly coarse and clumsy piece 
of workmanship both in design and execution; but if 
originally of a single piece, as really seems to have been 
the case, its transportation from the very distant quarry 
to its temple abode, reflects great credit either on the 
patience, or the engineering skill of the ancient 
Egyptians, I do not know which ; but I believe the 
praise should be equally awarded to both. 

The two ill-shaped, stiff, and much mutilated sitting 
statues, one of which has acquired such world wide 
notoriety as the vocal Memnon, are rather objects of 



158 


LETTERS OF 




wonder for their magnitude, than of admiration for their 
beauty ; and except that they possessed nothing of the 
same life and spirit, they put me greatly in mind of two 
figures of Tarn O'Shanter and Souter John which I 
recollect to have seen many years ago in London, the 
production of the self taught Scottish artist, Thorns, 
who was justly admired for his talented conception of 
the heroes of Burns' s tale. Poor Memnon, in particu- 
lar, has been sadly knocked about since his singing days 
were over; and has been so clumsily repaired above the 
waist with unshapely blocks of sandstone (which is not 
the material of which the rest of his person is com- 
posed), as to look more like the fragment of an old wall, 
than a delineation in stone of the human form divine. 
In the huge lap of this statue, which is only accessible, 
by climbing, to persons gifted with a stronger head than 
mine, is a stone which emits a ringing sound when 
struck, and behind this is a cavity in which Sir G. Wilk- 
inson thinks a person was in the habit of concealing 
himself, in order to produce the sound attributed by 
superstitious belief to the rays of the sun impinging on 
the figure at his rising, or as Sir G. Wilkinson states, 
an hour or two afterwards. One of our donkey boys 
climbed into the lap, and struck the stone repeatedly ; 
but with all my desire to hear what I was prepared to 
listen to, a deep, sonorous, bell like tone, I could only 
distinguish a dull tinkling like that which any mason's 
trowel would elicit from an ordinary block of marble or 
freestone. The feet and throne of the so-called Mem- 
non, (through confusion of names with the Egyptian 
Miamun ), are covered with inscriptions, chiefly Greek, 
of great antiquity. The fellow statue is in better pre- 

Qprvatinn Ihnnfrri rw pac ppIpiiviIv rm^ trip tqpps r\\ hpfh 

OCl VtlLlUllj LlIUULi^JLl \Jl ICOO ^>\JiL/ ML I , U IX li tilt/ lcMjCT \JL UKJ til 

are so disfigured, that the features are scarcely traceable. 



W. A. BR 0MF1E L D. — No. 17, 



159 



The next morning at dawn we again started for the 
tombs of the Kings, attended by two servants, a guide 
with candles, our donkey boys, and some half dozen 
little fellows bearing gullahs, or porous earthern bottles 
filled with water ; to the mouths of which ever and 
anon, we were glad to apply our parched lips. These 
famous grottos are excavated in the most solitary and 
intricate recesses of the Theban mountains. After 
quitting the plain, the way leads through winding 
defiles between hills and rocks of white limestone, and 
coarse conglomerate, the former extremely white, and 
approaching very nearly in hardness and appearance to 
the indurated chalk of our own country. Not a tree, 
shrub, or blade of grass finds a habitation upon these 
bare and sunburnt mountains, on which a drop of water 
from heaven either as rain or dew rarely falls, save only 
the transient devastating floods of sub-tropical storms. 
J ackals, wolves, and hyenas are the inhabitants ; birds 
are few ; but Mr. Pengelly brought down at one shot, 
a pair of magnificent horned owls, of great size, and 
with most formidable beaks and talons. 

The distance from our moorings on the western or 
Lybian side of the Nile opposite Luxor to these tombs, 
is about six miles. Their number is very considerable, 
but since their general plan, sculptures, and painting, 
are much the same in all, and so minute a survey could 
only interest the professed and zealous antiquary, we 
contented ourselves with viewing those marked by Sir 
G. Wilkinson on the face of their respective entrances 
Nos. 9, 11, 17, called the tomfcs of Memnon (Miamun 
Rameses V.) Brace's or the Harper's, and Belzoni's 
tomb. These grottos lie scattered about in the sides of 
hills at irregular distances; the entrances are by un- 
adorned rectangular openings, and the passage for some 



160 



LETTERS OF 



_ 



distance is always descending, and sometimes very 
steep, thickly strewed with fragments of the rock, 
beyond which, the tombs present an extraordinary 
collection of passages, halls, and chambers, elaborately 
adorned with sculptures and paintings, in endless variety 
and in endless repetition. 

A dispassionate view of Egyptian art, such as I have 
now had an opportunity of taking, in regard to its chief 
and most elaborate monuments, has led me to the 
conviction that with much that is worthy of the highest 
admiration, there is a vast deal that is not merely below 
mediocrity, but absolutely poor and paltry to the last 
degree, all strangely co-existing in the same edifice or 
excavation, and made the more conspicuous by the 
sharpness of the contrast. I have often been astonished 
and delighted by the gracefulness, elegance, and ad- 
mirable execution of the sculptures in the various 
temples, tombs and pyramids, as at Napata and Meroe, 
which I have visited : and have been grieved as much to 
see the miserable scratches or scores intended to re- 
present similar objects, that most frequently were to be 
found defacing the very walls on which such fine skill 
and taste were displayed. An extraordinary inequality 
of design and execution seems the prevailing character- 
istic of Egyptian sculpture and architecture. As for 
the paintings in the tombs, and on the roofs and ceilings 
of the temples, I must confess that with very few 
exceptions indeed, I never saw any that, to my 
eye, looked superior to vile daubs, such as a country- 
sign painter might feel ashamed to have executed. 
Some of the figures of men and animals in processions 
&c. are tolerably pourtrayed, chiefly in their peculia 
subdued red, or Etruscan vase colour ; but wheneve 
they attempt flowers, fruit, foliage, a scroll, or an 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 17. 


161 


complicated object required strong shading or relief, 
I have seen nothing but utter failure, — flat, gaudy, 
ungraceful designs. I know it is the fashion in England 
to talk of the extraordinary brilliancy and durability of 
these colours, as being inimitable in these degenerate 
days, by the loss of the mode of their preparation, one 
of the pretended secrets of ancient art; but this as- 
sertion, I have learnt to class with the customary ravings 
about Eastern skies, sunlights, shadows, moons, flowers, 
and fruits. I do not deny that the colours in the tombs 
and temples of Egypt have stood well, and retained most, 
if not the whole, of their original brilliancy (such as it 
was) through the lapse of many centuries ; but I beg to 
observe that this holds true only in those edifices or 
excavations which have been hermetically sealed by the 
artificial closing up of the entrance, or by accumulation 
over them of the sands of the desert. From the more 
exposed buildings the painting has been either wholly 
effaced by the weather, or, as at Esneh and Edfou, some 
of the capitals of the columns retain mere traces of a 
disagreeable verdigris green: the dark blue studded 
with stars on the ceilings of some of these structures, 
as at Dendereh, has stood better, but even that is in a 
great degree blotched and obscured by age, and by the 
damp of the river. 

The Egyptians knew nothing of oil paints, and all 
their water colours that I have seen on the stucco or 
stone of their walls, whether in tombs or temples, have 
an opaque, earthy, or (what I believe artists call) muddy 
appearance, which argues no great skill or knowledge of 
the materials best adapted for yielding bright clear 
colours, similiar to those furnished by substances which 
modern chemistry has brought to hVht, and made sub- 
servient to modern art. Analysis indeed has proved 





L 



I' 



162 


LETTERS OF 




that the water colours used by the ancient Egyptians 
for the decoration of their temples, were obtained from 
substances identical with those that yield the cheapest 
and most ordinary hues to the house painters of modern 
days, as yellow and red ochre, verdigris, lamp black, &c. 
Our brilliant smalt, chrome yellow, Prussian blue, and 
other modern pigments of varied intensity, were to 
them unknown. Indigo, they were doubtless acquainted 
with ; this has, I believe, been demonstrated by chemical 
analysis of some of their colours from the tombs and 
temples ; several species of indigo I found abundant in 
the southern deserts, and along the banks of the Nile ; 
and one native species, Indigofera argentea, is to this day 
universally used in Egypt for dying the common blue 
cloth of the country. 

The effect of the colouring in the tombs of the Kings 
is much injured by the often tasteless disposition of the 
various hues in parallel lines or stripes along the walls, 
the interstices between the stripes being crowded with 
vilely daubed hieroglyphics, mixed with grotesque 
figures, and every monstrous combination of living 
forms, that a depraved ingenuity could suggest to the 
artist. All harmonious blending or contrast of colours 
seems to have been generally overlooked, or disregarded 
in the sepulchral decorations of the Egyptians ; green, 
red, blue, black, and yellow, are mixed, or laid on in 
close contact upon the stuccoed walls and roof, with 
the garish brush of a painter of children's toys, rather 
than with the sober and chastened pencil of a genuine 
artist. Yet, amidst this mass of confused figures, gaudy 
tints, and rude designs, there is a great deal worthy of 
admiration in these receptacles of the royal dead, 
figures traced with vast freedom and grace occasionally 
meet the eye, which causes the more regret to see them 



W. A. BROMFIELD. —No. 17. 


163 


associated with so much that is poor and mean. The 
noble halls covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics, 
are wonderfully imposing from their fine size and pro- 
portions, as well as from the interest attaching to them 
on account of their high antiquity, and as depicting the 
manners and customs of the times in which they were 
constructed. 

The walls of this vast Necropolis bear witness to the 
presence within them of the great and illustrious as well 
as of the little and vain of every age and clime : we read 
the names of most of the celebrated explorers of 
Egyptian antiquities, Belzoni, Irby, and Mangles, 
Burckhard, and if I recollect right, of Champollion, and 
of others of the French savans. Amongst those of the 
more renowned but unlettered visitors to these sepulchral 
chambers, we read the names of Mohammed Ali in Arabic 
and European characters. We were greatly amused at 
the very uncomplimentary remarks and addresses in- 
scribed on the walls of the first tomb we explored ( No. 
17, or that of Memnon so called), to Dr. Lepsius, a 
celebrated living antiquary of Germany, deprecating his 
appropriation of choice morsels of sculpture and hiero- 
glyphics which he had detached from the wall, and 
carried away on a late archaeological razzia amongst 
these venerable remains of by-gone times. We were 
however indebted to this same Teutonic rifler of tombs, 
for our acquaintance with an exquisite little sepulchral 
grot, which he had the good fortune to light upon and 
dis-inter last year I believe, and throw open to the 
inspection of travellers like ourselves, 

The heat within the tombs of the kings was not 
nearly so great as I had anticipated, and the walls and 
roofs had the appearance of the most parching dryness i 
nevertheless the paintings in the tomb we first visited 





1G4 


LETTERS OF 




had suffered as it is said from the percolation through the 
absorbent limestone-rock of those violent floods which 
even visit the burnt-up hills of the Thebaid at distant, 
but uncertain periods. 

On quitting the tombs of the kings, we arrived in the 
plain by another and shorter route, passing by a very 
steep path across the highest peaks of the Theban 
mountains, and then descending precipitously their 
eastern escarpment, right glad to have done so at the 
expence of a toilsome clamber in the now burning sun 
on foot as far as the summit, our donkeys following us as 
best they might. The view was glorious, the vast plain 
of Thebes on our right, mapped out with the ruins of 
Medinet Abou, Karnak, the Colossi, the Memnonium, 
&c, on the left the winding and sparkling river, on the 
furthest banks of which, the eye ranged over Luxor, 
Karnak, and the great plain beyond, bounded by a 
rampart of limestone like that from which we were look- 
ing down, and beholding the vast ruins reduced to the 
size of models under our feet. On our way down we 
passed the village and grottos of Assaseef, in one of 
which, during our occupation of its friendly shelter from 
the scorching sun, while we discussed a large bowl of 
goat's milk, I noticed some beautifully designed and finely 
executed sculpture, of some of which I caused impres- 
sions to be taken on coarse paper, by a native of the 
place who had acquired the art from Dr. Lepsius, and, 
for a piastre a sheet, performed the task very fairly, 
though on the whole rather unequally. 

Towards sunset of the Dth ( having crossed over and 
moored our bark to the shore at Luxor during the day), 
we started on donkeys to take a second and farewell 
view of the ruins at that place, and, acting on the advice 
given me by Mrs. H. at Assouan, to pay our visit to the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 17. 


165 


latter by moonlight. Arriving at Karnak just before the 
sun went down, and passing the noble, and still nearly 
perfect propylon that stands at the entrance to the ruins 
from Luxor, we mounted immediately behind that mag- 
nificent gateway to the roof of the temple which is 
formed by huge blocks laid across from column to co- 
lumn, and formerly united as in modern structures by iron 
clamps and lead. From this elevated position we sat 
enjoying a fine view of the great temple, the obelisks, 
and other ruins, collectively known as those of Karnak, 
whilst our trusty little Nubian Mohammed kindled a 
charcoal fire by our side, in the deep groove formed be- 
tween two disjointed colossal blocks, which made an 
excellent grate, on which our tea kettle was merrily 
singing, and enabled us to continue leisurely sipping our 
tea, and chatting till twilight had vanished entirely from 
the western horizon, and had given place to that of the 
moon, then at the end of her first quarter, when we 
descended, and made the best of our way to the vast 
mass of ruins still in front of us. The effect on enter- 
ing the grand hall, amid the forest of colossal pillars, 
which once supported as massive a roof, was quite what 
Mrs. H. had described to me — it was awfully grand, 
almost unearthly. The night was clear (and it is very 
rarely indeed otherwise in Upper Egypt), but a few fleecy 
clouds occasionally psssed across the moon, which being 
only half way to the full, threw a more solemn, dusky, 
and delusive shadow, than if she had been shining in 
perfect glory. Every part of the vast pile seemed mag- 
nified, whilst all its architectural defects were effectually 
concealed ; nothing but the gigantic outlines of the 
serried ranks of tower-like columns were visible, half 

T~ ' J ' 111 11 1 li? 11* 1 i • 

buried m black shade, half revealed m pale uncertain 
light ; some few, leaning towards one another, with an 





LETTERS OF 



alarming inclination, seemed actually to be toppling over 
as the few thin clouds, flying before the moon, apparently 
transmitted their own motion to these Titanean masses, 
many of which are crowned in addition to their vast ca- 
pital with enormous blocks, which some mighty agency 
has strangely thrown into every imaginable position of 
threatening danger to such as explore this wonderful 
temple. Some of these architraves are actually hanging 
in mid air, totally unsupported except by a small part of 
their imbedded extremity, the unsupported end lowered 
to an angle, sometimes nearly approaching the perpen- 
dicular : yet this mighty weight hangs still, and doubtless 
has done so for ages. The two noble granite obelisks of 
one solid block, that still adorn Karnak, shew to admi- 
rable advantage by moonlight, and the same remark may 
be with truth extended to every part of the ruins, of 
which I would not for the world have missed taking the 
view by night. 

The aspect of Karnak by day, I still think unde- 
serving the extravagantly high flown encomiums of anti- 
quaries, and picturesque-hunting travellers and artists. 
With a vast deal that is poor, tasteless, and barbarous in 
design and execution, there is still very much amongst 
these remains to call forth feelings of admiration at their 
sublimity, and no one can reasonably doubt that in the 
days of their entirety, the general effect of this vast 
group of edifices must have been splendid beyond belief. 
I find fault only with that class of prepossessed travel- 
lers who can see nothing but perfection (often purely 
imaginary) in such ancient relics ; overlooking or 
denying the most obvious and glaring defects, or even 
setting them down, as so many positive beauties. 

The ruins of Karnak abound in scorpions ; and a 
small, dirty, but picturesque village bearing the name of 



W. A. BROMFIELD.-^o. 17. 


167 


the temple, occupies the space in front of the grand 
entrance to the ruins, but happily has not yet en- 
croached upon any part of the latter, as is the case at 
Edfou and Esneh, where the miserable hovels of the 
fellahs are crowded together on the very roofs of these 
fanes, as if upon a solid rock. We had a pleasant ride 
home by moonlight to our boat at Luxor ; and on 
arriving there, we immediately cast loose from the 
shore, and dropped down the river on our return voyage 
to Cairo. 

Sun-rise on the morning of the 10th found me trot- 
ting over the halfeh-grass-covered-plain on a gallant 
Egyptian neddy, bent on paying my respects once more 
to the truly magnificent temple of Dendereh ; I had 
only with me our late friend Mr. Lakes' Arab servant, 
Ahmeed. I had another object in again stopping at 
Dendereh, namely, to procure a cluster of the fruit of 
the Doum Palm for the Botanical Museum at Kew, 
agreeably to a request from Sir William Hooker that I 
would do so if possible. In this I have fully succeeded, 
and so, whilst the villagers were engaged in cutting me 
off a proper sized cluster from the forest of this palm 
which adorns the approach to the temple from the river, 
I pushed on for the latter, returning with rather in- 
creased than diminished admiration of so beautiful, 
and elaborately-adorned a structure. The profusion of 
sculptures and hieroglyphics finely executed in relief 
and in vast square panels, with which the walls are 
absolutely covered, has an extraordinarily rich effect, 
greatly superior to the same sculptures and emblematic 
writing in intaglio. The air was delightfully cool and 
fresh, like that of a May morning at home, and this 
cool character the mornings have hitherto preserved 
since we left Khartoun, but the earlier part of the 





168 



LETTERS OF 



nights is now sultry, although quite pleasant after two 
or three o'clock a.m. So rapid is the dissipation of heat 
by nocturnal radiation in this unclouded clime, that the 
languid enervated Africans are secure of a few hours 
before and after sun-rise of sufficiently low temperature 
to brace their unstrung frames, at nearly, if not at all 
times of the year; and in winter, the mornings are 
cold enough to make a European, much more a native, 
shiver, even far within the tropics. 

Siout, or Assiout, Upper Egypt, May \Sth. Continued 
northerly winds, and (so unlike their former selves), a 
lazy apathetic crew, whom neither threats nor persuasion 
can induce to pull at the oars lustily, unite to render our 
return voyage down the Nile, a very tedious one : we 
having been already eighteen days from Assouan, with 
a prospect before us of not being at Cairo before the 
end of the month at our present rate of going. We are 
the more desirous of reaching Cairo speedily, as my 
fellow traveller's health is suffering materially from the 
heat, and he is complaining of daily increasing languor 
and debility. Sir G. Wilkinson tells us that from April 
to October favourable winds for ascending the Nile are 
not to be expected, the prevailing ones during that 
season being from some southerly quarter, or in other 
words down the river. Hitherto however, the wind has 
constantly come from the north, and so far has fulfilled 
the assertion of Sir (jr. Wilkinson, of being unfavourable | 
but in our case, for precisely the reverse of the reason he 
gives, since we are on our return from, and not on our 
passage to Upper Egypt, and should in truth expect to 
have the wind in our favour coming down. Mr. Pengelly 
tells me that his former experience of the weather during 
summer in Egypt is in accordance with the present, that 
northerly winds have ever been more general than 



W. A. BROMFIELD. — No. 17. 



southerly, and from the account of many persons with 
whom I have spoken on the subject, these would seem 
to preponderate greatly over breezes from other quarters 
throughout the year. 

This northerly wind, however, has the advantage of 
keeping the temperature lower than a southerly one, 
but its breezes are still very hot, and impart no feeling 
of freshness as they pass over us, we therefore exclude 
them and the sun together, by keeping the Venetian 
blinds of our boat shut during the middle of the day. 
We would gladly put up with a higher temperature in 
being blown merrily down to Cairo by a red hot Kham- 
seen wind in preference to our present slow progress 
with a comparatively cool one perpetually against us. 
The temperature continues pretty steady, neither in- 
creasing nor diminishing in any material degree ; and 
its distribution through the twenty-four hours may be 
thus stated. Between sunrise and eight a.m. from 80° 
— 85°, by ten a.m. it has generally reached 90°, from 
which time it continues slowly rising till one or two p.m. 
being at noon 98° — 100°, and two p.m. 102°, continuing 
at this point till at or near sunset, when it sinks slowly 
to 90° or 92°, which is the usual height of the thermo- 
meter at midnight ; from this time the mercury gradually 
falls to between 80° and 70°, the ordinary heat just 
before sunrise. But some abatement of the mid-day 
heat both in intensity and duration, is beginning to 
manifest itself as we advance northwards, and, gaining 
a flatter and more open country, leave the narrower 
part of the Nile valley behind us shut in by the bare 
heated limestone mountains of the Thebaid, the hot 
blasts of which we are beginning to exchange for 
cool currents of air from the Mediterranean. The tem- 
peratures given above are taken on board in the cabin 



170 



LETTERS OF 



with as much attention to keeping that place cool as 
possible. For six weeks or two months past, the ther- 
mometer has, I believe, hardly ever been below 100° at 
noon, sometimes several degrees above that point : but 
within these few days, it has not been so high until an 
hour or two after the sun has passed the meridian. In 
spite of being thus exposed during twenty out of the 
twenty-four hours to a heat of 90° — 102°, and sleeping 
under close drawn mosquito curtains of fine muslin, I 
am perfectly well in health, and suffer no other incon- 
venience from the inordinate temperature than frequent 
thirst, and some loss of what little adipose covering I 
possess by nature : this is certainly not the weather for 
any one to grow stout in, however much disposed there- 
to by constitution. 

Minieh May 24th. We arrived here yesterday after- 
noon, and lucky it was that we did so, as a furious gale 
from the northward set in after dark, and continued to 
blow unabatedly all night, and though at this moment 
reduced to a fresh breeze, the weather holds out no pros- 
pect of our getting away for many hours at least. The 
Nile lashed into foam, is rolling like the troubled ocean, 
and seems resolved to deserve its Arab appellation of 
El Bahr, which signifies the sea or any large body of 
water. The temperature to day is very cool and pleasant 
at this time ( one p.m.) ; the thermometer in the strong 
fresh current of wind through our boat, as she lies 
moored under the bank in a direction north and south, 
is 88°; we have had nothing so low as this at the same 
hour by twelve or fourteen degrees for two months past, 
but we must not expect its continuance when the gale 
is over. 

For the last two days the sky has been partly over- 
cast with tolerably thick clouds, a thing rarely seen even 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 17. 


171 


so low down as this town is in latitude 28°, and still sel- 
domer higher up. I cannot understand why it is the 
custom for English travellers to speak in such raptures 
of the transparent azure of the Egyptian sky, and of its 
unrivalled brilliancy: to my vision, it has always, ex- 
cepting at particular moments, shewn itself as strikingly 
deficient in both these attributes. The sky of Egypt is 
certainly deserving enough of praise in so far as the 
absence of clouds is concerned, although it is not seldom 
that it is wrapped in a veil of dull, thin vapour, especially 
towards evening, when the sunsets are frequently ex- 
tremely tame, hazy, and colourless. I have studied the 
phases of the African sky with great attention for eight 
months, and can confidently assert that brilliancy and 
transparency are not its habitual every day attributes. 
A white, milky, or whey-like opacity, is the almost con- 
stant characteristic of the heavens in the land of the 
Pharoahs, and thence southward into the tropical 
regions of Nubia and Abyssinia ; becoming more and 
more marked, as the summer or warm season advances ; 
the sky assuming a more diaphanous aspect in the 
winter, or at least in the cooler season. In general the 
nights are clearer than the days, and the star-light is 
often extremely brilliant, but not more so I am sure, 
than on many a fine winter's night in England; and 
frequently the night sky is as nebulous, or nearly so, as 
the day, and a dim lustreless star-light, which people at 
home are apt to suppose is unknown in these southern 
climes, is all the traveller enjoys on his nocturnal 
journeyings for his guidance. I might say that the sky 
of Egypt (including that of Nubia to the termination of 
the valley of the Nile at Khartoun), is but in keeping 
with the land and its products, over which its arch is 
hung ; a sunlit, and sunburnt, region of colourless, or 





172 



LETTERS OF 



rather sadness-tinted landscapes, with little contrast of 
light and shade ; the very verdure of its scanty and mo- 
notonous native vegetation 5 greyish, and unrefreshing to 
the eye ; the animals, birds, reptiles, and insects, seldom 
arrayed in any but the plainest garb, in which like that 
of the people themselves and their earthen habitations, 
some shades of brown are the prevailing hue ; the uni- 
formity of which is only broken by the occasional passage 
across the expanse of a few clouds too transparent and 
colourless to give tone and richness to the firmament. 
I have seen beautiful sun-sets (and on my desert travels), 
fine sun-rises too; but the gorgeous tints that ac- 
company them in climates of greater humidity, are but 
their occasional concomitants in this arid region ; and I 
have remarked that whilst the sun usually rises from an 
unclouded horizon, his setting is often obscured by a dull 
haze. 

# * # * 

Always, my dear E , 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 

(Letter XVIII.) 

Minieh, May 25th, 1851. 

Dear E 

e are still detained here close prisoners by the 
gale, which continues to rage furiously day and night, 
but is most violent at the latter time ; we are assured 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 18. 



173 



that it will last over to-morrow, after which we may 
confidently look for our release from this windy qua- 
rantine. Our situation is very unpleasant, as there is no 
stirring; out without beino- blinded and half suffocated 
by the fine sand which fills the air like a mist ; the 
temperature has fallen so suddenly that it is felt by us 
all ; this morning at eight the thermometer was only 
72°, now (ten a.m.) 76°, when it has always at this hour 
been at, or near 99°; an agreeable change enough, had it 
been but gradual. This morning I awoke so cold, that I 
was glad to draw my blanket over me, which has not been 
in request for weeks, I might almost say, months past. 
Mr. P, is far from well, and our native servants have 
suffered much from headache and painful indigestion 
for some days, affections consequent upon the unsettled 
atmosphere. Sir Gr. Wilkinson states that the present 
month is the most disagreeable of the whole year in 
Egypt, and the residents confirm his account : the heat, 
although less than in the succeeding three months, is 
said to be more oppressive, probably from a degree of 
moisture in the northerly winds from the Mediterranean, 
and the low marshy Delta over which they come hither. 

A certain degree of precaution is advisable to escape 
opthalmia, that terrible scourge of Egypt, and which is 
particularly prevalent in spring and autumn, or at low 
and high Nile, when the air is moister than in summer, 
and the variations of temperature more frequent and 
sudden. Weak and sore eyes are of lamentable fre- 
quency from Alexandria to Assouan ; half the popu- 
lation at the very least, having those organs more or 
less affected ; but as to the Arabs of the desert, 
although living in an intense glare, and breathing an 
atmosphere filled with floating sand, I do not remember 
to have once seen their black sparkling eyes dimmed by 



174 


LETTERS OF 




the least weakness or disease. This immunity from eye 
complaints is no doubt justly ascribed to the mar- 
vellously invigorating or tonic influence of the desert 
atmosphere, absolutely void of every particle of sensible 
humidity ; a property of which we had ample and most 
satisfactory experience. 

The height of last year's inundation was below the 
wholesome average for the prosperity of the crops, I 
cannot add for that of the cultivators, who, whatever 
the season may be, reap no benefit from their labours : 
hence the Nile is this year unusually low, a deficiency 
which, the early setting-in of the heat this summer, 
and its protracted duration last autumn materially 
aggravated. This very low state of the river helps to 
make our downward voyage more tedious from the 
shoals and sand-banks we are ever getting aground 
upon ; indeed our good friends at the sugar factories of 
Ernout, Rhoda, and Mini eh, thought we must have 
passed them long since in the night, as the waters of 
the Nile have been cleared of English, and other 
European tourist-boats for many a week past. A 
steamer arrived here yesterday with a pasha on board, 
commissioned to proceed upwards and enquire into the 
amount of land which was left uncovered by last year's 
inundation, in order that such land may be exempt 
wholly, or in part from the annual taxes and other 
imposts usually levied ; a piece of justice rather forced 
on government by the absolute impossibility of collect- 
ing any revenue from the lands left unwatered, than by 
the desire of doing right by the poor fellahs who toil 
only for the benefit of their rulers. 

Minieh, May 27th. No prospect of stirring yet: the 
uicczb LuiiLiiiuco do litibn cife ever, oiowmg a gaie ai 
night; the weather still extremely cool, the ther- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 18. 


175 


mometer to-day at noon, only 78°. Mr. Pengelly 
continues very unwell : but in this large garrison town, 
the third in importance of all those above Cairo, no 
medicine of any kind is to be obtained, and nothing eat- 
able in the way of animal food. A chicken for stewing, 
that has only this very moment succumbed to the sacri- 
ficing knife of our cook, is all we have to look to for 
appeasing our appetite three hours hence, a portion of 
this unhappy biped being reserved to make a cup full 
of broth for my sick friend. I do not expect to be 
able to touch the remainder, having hitherto seldom 
achieved the mastication of Egyptian fowls. As to 
attempting the meat any more, that is out of the 
question ; pigeons (always wretchedly lean) are not to 
be had here, though they literally swarm in myriads at 
most Egyptian towns, and the wild doves, that so 
unceasingly befriended us on our upward voyage, are at 
this season very rare and shy. The fact we find to be, 
that it is only during the cc season " for tourists going 
up, and coming down the river, or from October to 
March inclusive, that the markets of Egyptian pro- 
vincial towns are decently supplied with the common 
necessaries of life : after that season is over, nothing 
eatable is to be hoped for. Fine fat turkeys at fifteen 
to seventeen piastres the pair (two shillings and four- 
pence to three shillings) are procurable at Kenneh and 
other places above Cairo at that time. Now they are 
not only very scarce, but very poor and dear : we bought 
two of these miserable scare-crows a little above this 
place a few days since, which we fed with barley or 
dhourrah into something like tolerable condition. I 
fancy that neither poultry nor cattle will fatten here 
during the intense heat of summer, but the ill condition 
of both is doubtless mainly due to the apathy and 





176 


LETTERS OF 




extreme poverty of the people, who scarcely themselves 
touch animal food, and cannot, unless there is a demand 
for fowls in the market, afford to give them grain, whilst 
at this season the always scanty pasturage for the flocks 
and herds, is scantier still. 

In Nubia and Ethiopia goats almost wholly take the 
place of sheep ; our chief fare there was kid, and goat's 
milk : but the former was always very lean and tasteless, 
and the latter, had not the richness, or even quite the 
taste of cow's milk. In the upper countries just named, 
the cattle are of a peculiar, probably distinct, species of 
ox, very much like our own, but with a hump on the back, 
and the females are, as milch cows, good for nothing, 
being always nearly dry ; so that we could scarcely ever 
procure cows' milk even when meeting with large herds 
of them, much as we should have preferred it to that of 
goats. Our common breed or species is also seen in 
Nubia, &c. but more rarely. In most parts of Egypt, 
but especially in the lower provinces* the common and 
hump-backed cattle are in a great degree supplanted by 
the Water Buffalo (Bos Bubalus) a huge, grotesque, un- 
gainly, but apparently harmless and stupid animal, to 
which we were indebted for some of the milk obtained 
in Egypt, and all the abominable mass of indigestible 
fibres sold for beef. The Water Buffalo has not 
made its way very far beyond the second cataract, or 
into Nubia : but it is well known, I am told in India. 
Its name is derived from its habit of laying a great part 
of its time immersed in the water of pools and rivers, 
and it is an excellent swimmer. Thousands may be seen 
on the tanks and shallows of the Nile during the heat 
of the day luxuriously reposing, with only their heads, 
or even the tips of their hippopotamus-like noses visible 
above the stream that is continually passing over them, 



W. A. BROMFIELD.—So. 18. 


177 


brings constantly renewed coolness with it : at times 
one envies them their position. Yet in the intensely 
hot climate of Eastern Africa, I seldom or never see 
other cattle avail themselves of the river either for cool- 
ness, or as a refuge from the various flies that torment 
them. Shade is a rarity in Egypt, and in the country to 
the south of it, and deep shade is unknown, from the 
absence of all broad leaved umbrageous trees in regions 
where they would seem to be most required. Under 
these circumstances the domesticated animals appear to 
be endowed with, or to have acquired by long habit, an 
extraordinary power of bearing heat. One sees the 
flocks and herds quietly reposing or chewing the cud on 
the hard burnt-up pasture ground, broiling in the rays 
of a mid -day's sun that I imagine would infallibly and 
quickly affect an English ox, cow, sheep, goat, horse, or 
donkey, with coup de soleil. As to the camel, he seems 
to bear almost an antipathy to water, and in Egypt I 
am told it is customary to thrash the poor donkeys when 
they want them to drink, a proceeding quite as original 
in its way as that of administering a dram to a turkey 
when about to be killed for the table. 

Minieh, May 28th. The breeze continues to keep us 
close prisoners, and a weary time we have of it, for the 
country around is very uninteresting, and our anxiety 
to reach Cairo increases daily. A government steamer 
is reported to be hourly expected from Siout, when we 
hope to succeed in inducing the Captain to tow us up 
to the capital, or at least to within a few miles of Cairo, 
since, if Mr. Pengelly should feel equal to the task, we 
propose stopping opposite the pyramids of Dashoor, 
Abousheer, and Lake Karah, which we have not visited. 
His indisposition, and our untoward detention will oblige 
me to give up my plan of turning aside for a couple of 





M 



178 


LETTERS OF 




days into the curious district of the Fayoum, in which is 
situated what remains of the once extensive Lake 
Moeris. 

We have succeeded in procuring a couple of tame 
rabbits to vary our scanty bill of fare, which has not 
received a single addition to its items since we left 
Assouan, notwithstanding the assurances of our cook 
Saad that the fat of the land of Egypt would be ours to 
enjoy, as soon as we reached Siout, close to which is the 
said Saad's native village* Our worthy cuisinier was 
piqued for the honour of his native land, and during our 
journey into Nubia, never failed to speak in terms of 
unmeasured contempt and disparagement of that coun- 
try and its inhabitants, besides indulging in lamentations 
without end at having no materials on which to exercise 
his professional skill ; he vows never to accompany any 
English travellers who may engage his services, beyond 
the second cataract at Wady Halfeh ; and counsels all 
tourists not to advance beyond the first cataract just 
above Assouan, which is the boundary of Egypt, unless 
they wish to be starved outright. For our own parts, 
we have found Egypt, at this season, hardly a shade 
superior to Nubia in point of gastronomic advantages, 
having lived as luxuriously at Khartoun and Berber, as 
at Siout, or this town. Fish, there is none to be had, 
for the reason I have before stated. Of fruit, there is 
no variety, and what there is, is bad, either in its own 
nature through the climate, or from want of proper cul- 
ture. A good melon, or water-melon, may now and 
then be procured, but is too often gathered before 
being sufficiently ripe, when the fruit is dangerous to 
indulge in. Apples and apricots are in the market, but 
the apples are miserably small, stunted, and greenish, 
being gathered before maturity, lest I imagine, they 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 18. 



should drop off themselves from the trees or rather 
bushes, that produce them, for the climate of even Lower 
Egypt, is too warm and dry for the fruits of the tem- 
perate zone. We tried some the other day stewed, but 
taste and briskness they had none. The apricots are 
very poor, not larger than damsons, hard, and flavour- 
less ; I have no doubt the trees are all raised from stones, 
and am quite certain, that no pains whatever are be- 
stowed on their cultivation. Grapes are not yet ripe, 
nor does the vine appear to be much cultivated in Egypt, 
except in the gardens of the richer inhabitants. We saw 
vines in several gardens at Khartoun, in full bearing in 
March ; the clusters were numerous enough, but the 
grapes in each bunch that did come to maturity, were 
small, and mawkishly sweet ; the rest fell off, or ceased 
to enlarge. Sycomore figs ( the fruit of the tree Syco- 
more of Scripture, Ficus Sycomorus ) are now in 
season, which with the date, the produce of the date 
palm, (Phoenix Dactylifera) are the only native or truly 
indigenous fruits deserving of the name, that the soil 
of Egypt and Nubia produces ; unless we include 
the common fig (Ficus Carica) which I have not 
met with wild, but believe to grow spontaneously in the 
northern deserts. The fig prospers and is abundantly 
grown in these countries, where the fruit is excellent, 
but not yet in season here : although at Khartoun, when 
we left that place on the 20th of March, figs were just 
coming to maturity. The Sycomore is the largest of 
Egyptain trees, and affords a deeper shade than any of 
the few native ones. The figs grow dispersed over the 
trunk and large widely spreading branches, in clusters 
as it were, each on a short stalk, springing directly from 
the old wood. The fruit, called Gimmays, much re- 
sembles the common fig in shape, but is smaller, the 



180 


LETTERS OF 




flavour too is very similar, — pleasant, but much in- 
ferior to the latter, and it is chiefly eaten by the 
lower classes, being hawked about the streets of Cairo 
for their behoof. The Gimmays is very dissimilar in 
growth to the common fig-tree, and has somewhat the 
aspect of our alder, the leaves being about the same size, 
and at a distance not unlike those of that tree. I have 
some doubts whether even the Sycomore has a just claim 
to insertion into the scanty dendrological flora of Egypt. 
I have never remarked it beyond the strip of cultivation 
that marks the limits of the annual inundation : it is far 
more frequently seen in an obviously planted state about 
houses, as in court-yards and avenues ; and when in 
situations apparently more natural, as in the open fields 
of grain, &c, it is commonly as a solitary specimen ; nor 
have I ever remarked it intermixed with the groves of 
Acacias, Dates, or Doum-trees that adorn at intervals 
the valley of the Nile to its junction with the Blue and 
White rivers, and where, if really indigenous, one might 
expect to find it flourishing. It must however, if not an 
aboriginal, have been introduced into Egypt from time 
immemorial, as the mummy cases were chiefly made of 
Sycomore wood ; and the fruit was well known to, and 
described by ancient authors who have written upon 
Egypt. If an introduced tree, its great utility as tim- 
ber, and the eatable nature of its fruit, may have saved 
it from the fate of the Lotus flower, and the Papyrus, 
both of which have wholly disappeared from the rivers 
and marshes of Egypt : the rumour of the Papyrus still 
lingering in the vicinity of the Lake Menzaleh, proving, 
it seems, a mistake ; another species having been con- 
founded with the true Papyrus of antiquity, which is 
Papyrus antiquorum, Cyperus Papyrus Linn. Poor 
Egypt ! how has she been shorn of all her boasted 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 18. 



181 



splendours, even to her very garlands of Lotus flowers ; 
and how literally have the words of the prophet been 
fulfilled in the single and apparently unimportant, as in 
so many more remarkable and weighty instances — u the 
reeds and flags shall wither; the paper reeds by the 
brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing 
sown by the brooks shall wither, be driven away, and be 
no more. " Isaiah, xix. 6, 7. In like manner the Lotus 
once so celebrated, and so constantly represented in 
Egyptian paintings, and popular as an architectural or- 
nament, has quite disappeared from the Nile ; and it is 
remarkable that in every part of this interminable river 
that I have traversed from Alexandria to Khartoun, a 
distance of 2000 miles, I have not found half a dozen 
truly aquatic plants. Perhaps along the Eosetta and 
Damietta branches, and about the Lake Menzaleh, I may 
pick up a few water-plants on my way into Syria, as the 
Delta is intersected by smaller branches of the river and 
canals, and rice is there cultivated, which of course im- 
plies marsh land. In the Fayoum too, a few water-plants 
doubtless occur, but that I shall not now have an oppor- 
tunity of visiting. The prophecy has received the most 
striking fulfilment in every part of the Nile, above the 
bifurcation of the stream forming the southern point or 
apex of the Delta, or that at which the Barrage is 
situated ; for not a brook now wends its course to the 
river, whose banks are hemmed in by high cliffs and 
sandy deserts ; and every plant that may have once 
flourished, on its then reedy sides has u withered, has 
been driven away, and is no more." Were it only to 
view the u desolation of Egypt, " a visit to this extra- 
ordinary country would be amply repaid in the historical 
associations, and the attestations to the truth of 
Prophecy which every day's scenery recalls to the 
traveller's remembrance. 



182 



LETTERS OF 



What a fearful destruction must that have been, 
which could have displaced the colossal architraves of 
the great hall of Karnak, or overthrown the yet more 
colossal statue of Rameses II. at the Theban Memnon- 
ium ; the raising of which, ( if it ever really stood 
erect) appears to me an operation more deserving of 
our wonder than the building of a hundred pyramids 
like those of Gheezeh. 

With kind regards to all our friends, 

Ever your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Beomfield. 



(Letter XIX.) 

Cairo, June Wth, 1851. 

My dear E— ~ — 

E arrived here on the 4th, after a tedious passage 
from Minieh, the wind dead against us nearly the whole 
way, and our crew obstinately determined not to exert 
themselves at the oars except at such times as suited 
their convenience or caprice. They had so constantly 
misconducted themselves since leaving Assouan, and 
had received such repeated assurances from us of being 
mulcted of their " baksheesh" or customary douceur 
over and above their pay, that they probably felt all 
chance of re-establishing themselves in our good graces 
was lost, and they consequently took no further pains 
to regain their position. The boat's crew are paid by 
the owner, and not by the parties hiring it, but on the 



TV. A. BE OMFIELD. — No. 19. 



strength of their former good conduct we had advanced 
the men, at different times, pay to the amount of 1200 
piastres, besides occasionally purchasing a sheep or goat 
for them to feast upon ; their ordinary diet being bread 
and a sort of porridge of Indian corn, or Dhourah; 
meat, they cannot in general afford to buy. Yet this 
kindness which we were not called upon to evince, was 
lost upon these people ; they are good humoured in the 
highest degree, but incorrigibly lazy and heartless. 
Want of gratitude is universally ascribed to the Arab 
and Berber races, and from what I have myself seen, 
the imputation is no result of prejudice, but it is really 
one of the commonest defects of their character: al- 
though from their constant good humour and readiness to 
oblige when no sacrifice and but little trouble is involved, 
one would not suspect that a want of gratitude formed 
so conspicuous a trait in the Arab character. 

Detained already by contrary winds far beyond our 
allotted time, I cannot quit Cairo till I have visited 
many remarkable places in the city and its neighbour- 
hood, Heliopolis, the mounds of Memphis, the pyramids 
of Saccareh, Abousheer, and Dashoor, the Colossi of 
Mitrahenny, the chicken-hatching ovens of Gheezeh, 
the Nilometer, and the quarries of Toureh, from whence 
the stones used in constructing the great pyramids were 
brought. I also propose making a trip to Suez, which 
in points of Scripture history possesses the highest 
interest. 

Cairo alone would give a traveller a good two months 
employment, in the endless variety which its labyrin- 
thine mass of grotesque houses, narrow alleys, richly 
sculptured mosques, minarets, and tombs without num- 
ber, offer to the eye ; besides the diversity of life, of 
feature, of costume, and of colour, which the city 



184 



LETTERS OF 



displays, and which is scarcely to be conceived; yet, 
taken as a whole, Cairo exhibits a most melancholy 
picture of poverty, dirt, disease, and degradation ; of 
wretched ignorance, superstition, and the most puerile 
and paltry pageantry; but bigotry and intolerance, 
though said to be still rampant, certainly do not appear 
on the surface at least, and I am convinced are rapidly 
giving way amongst the higher, and I think even among 
the lower grades of society, through daily increasing 
intercourse with Europeans. It is really quite astonish- 
ing to see the improvements that have been made in 
Cairo since my first visit last autumn ; ranges of hand- 
some shops in the Frank quarter have been opened, and 
others are still in progress of completion, which let at 
quite a European rental. 

It is confidently asserted that a contract has been 
made by the Pasha for the immediate construction of a 
railway, from Alexandria to Cairo, and that Mr. Stephen- 
son will be the engineer to carry it into effect. The 
French are losing ground fast in Egypt, and the English 
rising as much in the estimation of the government. 
An Englishman can do almost anything here he likes, 
and of the respect in which the British name and cha- 
racter are held, we ought to feel very proud. The 
Moslem even respects our Church ; because with all their 
contempt for other Christian sects, they say we do not 
bow down before images as they of the Greek and 
Roman and Coptic churches do. 

* * * # 

Believe me, 

Dear E., 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



W. A BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 



185 



( Letter XX. ) 



Weitten on board the Nile Boat, 
Between Cairo and Damietta, 

July 10th, 1851. 

Dear E— 



I left Cairo for Suez about eleven a.m. June 24th 
on a donkey, accompanied by its Arab owner on foot, 
to whoni I paid on my return to Cairo one hundred 
piastres or one pound sterling, the distance to Suez and 
back being one hundred and sixty eight miles : the 
agreement was, that if I remained above three days in 
Suez, I was to allow a further sum of five piastres a day 
for the keep of man and steed. 

It was a lovely morning, cloudless, with a fine breeze 
from the north, and although so near noon, and at the 
summer solstice, the heat quite moderate. The road for 
the first few miles out of Cairo is excellent, like an 
English highway, and is planted with young Lebbek 
trees (Acacia Lebbek). I stopped to enter and admire 
the beautiful tomb of Malek Adel, which stands at, a 
short distance from the road-side. The dome is beauti- 
fully wrought without, and within most elaborately 
sculptured and painted, in the usual mixed style of 
tasteful though barbaric decoration. 



186 



LETTERS OF 



The views on this side of Cairo are very pleasing, but 
you quickly leave all cultivation and haunts of men 
behind, and enter on the desert, upon which, on the 
whole way to Suez, there is not a single town, village, 
or even hamlet ; but there are station-houses of the 
Transit Company, at a distance of about five to seven 
miles apart. Of these there are twelve between Cairo 
and Suez. They are in fact hotels for the accommo- 
dation of passengers going to, and coming from India, 
and for relays of horses for the omnibuses that convey 
them across the desert. These station-houses are ugly 
stone buildings, with no uniformity in size or design; 
some of them are walled round, and on the opposite side 
of the road are a range of stone or wooden stables, 
usually, like the houses, whitewashed. Within, the 
station-houses are comfortably enough fitted up, and 
are kept extremely clean and neat. The dining-rooms 
are very spacious, and airy, with divans, chairs, and 
mirrors, and the windows have good curtains to exclude 
the sun and wind. The sleeping-rooms are airy, with ex- 
cellent iron bedsteads, and beds thereon, with musquito 
curtains in good order; although on the dry waterless 
desert, this most odious plague of warm climates is 
seldom experienced: the few musquitoes found, being 
generated in the water brought for the supply of the 
stations from Cairo or Suez, as I found their larvge in 
plenty in my water jug. The articles supplied at the 
stations are mostly from England, as butter, cheese, ale, 
&c. and it is hardly necessary to add that the charges 
are genuine English also. These stations are not un- 
conditionally open to the traveller going to and from 
Cairo and Suez : it is necessary to take a " Station 
ticket" at either of those places before setting out, to 
be able to enter for sleep or refreshment. This ticket 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 



187 



for which you pay the Transit Company £ 1, gives 
merely the right of entry, and nothing more; you can 
stop and sleep on the divan in the saloon as long as you 
please, but must pay for a bed, and any refreshment you 
call for, according to the printed tariff hung up in the 
dining-room. An excellent arrangement in these houses, 
at least in some, if not all, is that of having a medicine 
chest, with a list of the articles it contains, for the relief 
of invalid passengers, or those taken suddenly ill. The 
attendants are Arabs, who speak a little English ; the 
superintendent is either a Turk, or European (Italian 
or Maltese,) and I met with the greatest civility and 
attention along the road ; the loneliness of which is 
only relieved occasionally by a party of desert Arabs, 
or a string of the colossal breed of camels, that carry 
merchandise between Cairo and the Red Sea. With 
the exception of a solitary miserable looking acacia, 
held in great respect by pilgrims to and from Mekkeh, 
and hung with votive offerings of rags, which do not 
improve its appearance, there is not a tree between 
Cairo and Suez ; but the ground is bedecked here and 
there, with low shrubby plants, a foot or two high, such 
as the fierce heat of summer is unable wholly to burn up ; 
and of these, a species of henbane (Hyoscyamus Datura) 
is the most conspicuous and abundant. I have collected 
plenty of its seeds for the garden at Kew, and at St. 
John's, where I have no doubt it will flourish well in the 
open air, if slightly covered in winter ; for I fancy by the 
look, that the plant is biennial. Of sweet scented and 
aromatic plants, there are very few found wild in Egypt, 
nothing like so many as our own woods and fields spon- 
taneously produce ; but in this desert, the pretty San- 
tolina fragrantissima grew in abundance, and quite 
delighted me with its refreshing scent, being then in full 



188 


LETTERS OF 




bloom. The glare from the white and yellow naked 
soil of sand and powdered limestone, of which last the 
Mokattan chain of hills, which accompanied me in the 
distance on the right, is composed, was perfectly dazzling 
in conjunction with the floods of light poured down by 
the noontide sun, now all but vertical, in a perfectly 
cloudless sky ; but the strong, steady, cool, north-west 
breeze kept the temperature down to 90° — 95°, and 
towards evening, it was sure to be from ten to fifteen 
degrees lower ; so I gaily pursued my way, regardless of 
the glare, and with no other drawback to the enjoyment 
of the ride, than an occasional whirlwind of fine dust. 
In this way, I jogged on till I reached No. 4 Station, 
about 6 p.m., where I stopped and had dinner; and 
having remained a sufficient time to rest the man and 
donkey, I started again and travelled all night till four 
o'clock the next morning, when I reached No. 8 Station 
distant from Cairo 39 miles. Certain unpleasant jolts 
from time to time, during the day made me suspect that 
the donkey was falling lame, and it proved upon ex- 
amination that he had lost a hind shoe which left the 
foot exposed at every step to contact with the sharp 
stones and gravel, which, with deep soft sand, alternately 
compose the surface soil of the desert. In this country 
horses and donkeys are shod with a plate of iron that 
covers the whole under side of the foot, no part of 
which consequently is accustomed to touch the ground ; 
hence, an animal that has lost a shoe, is in the predi- 
cament of any one of ourselves similarly situated, and 
of course must suffer much from being forced to go 
bare footed over a stony road. There was however 
nothing to be done, as the donkey could not be shod at 
the stations, nor even, its owner assured me at Suez. 
This unlucky accident caused considerable delay from 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 



189 



this time till my return to Cairo, as the poor donkey 
could only proceed at a walking pace, and evidently 
suffered great uneasiness ; although we endeavoured to 
mitigate it by binding a cloth several times folded on 
the hoof, so as to interpose a soft cushion between the 
foot and the hard ground. 

This night-travelling alone on the desert, was, I must 
confess, very dreary work; I could not talk with my 
Arab companion, and at last got tired even of my own 
musings, having no external objects to divert my 
attention. Occasionally a party of desert Arabs would 
pass by, and give the salaam ; and in the earlier part of 
the night we met many strings of huge camels going 
with their loads of Arabian produce to Cairo. These 
enormous quadrupeds, some of which will stand nine 
feet high, to the top of the hump, would suddenly, as in 
a moment, be seen looming like distant hills or rocks 
across the dim dubious starlight, and the next instant be 
almost upon us ; their measured, noiseless tread not 
betraying their approach : they were quite invisible to 
my eyes at least, at the distance of a dozen yards, and 
it required some vigilance to keep out of their way, as 
such apathetic living machines will step aside for 
nobody. Another singular effect of the gloom was to 
produce the appearance of continual rising ground in 
front of us; we seemed ever about to ascend a steep 
bank across our track, which last, would appear as if 
furrowed with deep ruts, or full of holes and inequalities 
of all kinds : whereas, we were traversing a perfect level 
on every side, over ground comparatively quite smooth 
and even. Sometimes, the track, which was chiefly 
marked by the feet of camels and other beasts of burden, 
and here and there, by the wheels of the Transit 
carriages, would become so faintly perceptible in the 



190 



LETTERS OF 



twilight, as almost to baffle the sagacity of my Arab 
donkey-man, who however, was never long at fault. 
The distance between the station houses seemed in- 
terminable, and as they were invisible to within a very 
short distance, our approach to one was notified to us 
by the barking of the dogs, that even here, as every- 
where else in Egypt, are permitted as hangers on to the 
establishment, and are tolerated, rather than adopted, 
dwellers on the premises. To heighten the dreariness 
of our solitude, we ever and anon passed the skeleton, 
or half consumed remains of a defunct camel, the victim 
of fatigue or starvation, under which hundreds sink 
yearly in most of the African deserts. The poor 
donkey too, towards morning became so lame that 
I got off and walked as the moon rose, and at four a.m. 
an hour before sun-rise, I was not sorry to enter No. 8 
Station, where I remained till half-past two p.m. and 
made a short day's journey ; being quite sick of night 
travelling without one fellow creature who could under- 
stand me to speak to. I halted at No. 12 Station for 
the night at nine p.m. at which, as at No. 8., the ac- 
commodations are excellent. Left No. 12 next day {June 
26th) at eleven a.m. and reached Suez at sun-set, thus 
accomplishing the distance from Cairo of eighty-four 
miles, in three short days of travelling, with ease and 
pleasure. This last day was extraordinarily cool and 
agreeable, so that 1 could travel under a nearly vertical 
and perfectly unclouded sun, with as little feeling of 
heat, as on a bright summer's day in England, or with 
even less, — such is the result of the evaporating power 
of the constant north wind, which allows no moisture to 
remain on the surface to obstruct the pores, but carries 
off the cutaneous exhalations as fast as they are poured 
out, and acting by its coolness at the same time, as a 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20, 



191 



j tonic, neutralizes the debilitating influence of direct 
I exposure to the sun. 

The mirage was very strong on the desert this day, 
I and had 1 not known that it was still distant, I might 
I have taken this wonderfully illusive phenomenon for a 
I first glimpse of the Red Sea ; the Turkish fortress of 
| El Azerood, which seems set there to guard nothing, 
I appeared to have its walls washed by an arm of some 
j sea or lake. At length however, the real Red Sea 
became visible, as a line of dark blue in the southern 
;! quarter, between the mountains of Asia on the east, and 
I the lower range of hills on the African side ; and I could 
] distinguish the Hon. E. I. Go's steam ship Akbar lying 
at anchor in the offing. 

The Suez desert is tame in comparison with the 
savage grandeur of the southern ones of Nubia and 
Ethiopia, but is not without picturesque features in the 
limestone hills that range the whole distance from Cairo 
on the traveller's right. The approach to Suez is rather 
striking from the fine expanse of sea, bounded by hills, 
which it presents. About two miles from the town you 
pass Beer Suez, a deep well of clear but brackish water, 
where we stopped to give the donkey drink. Suez is 
supplied by a spring at some distance, from whence 
sweet water is brought in skins by camels. 

The town of Suez is a wretched, filthy place, and a 
few years ago was nearly depopulated by the cholera. 
The dilapidation here exceeds that of any place I have 
seen in the East, whilst its future prospects are brighter 
than those of perhaps any other in this part of the 
world ; for if the railway from Alexandria to Cairo be 
completed, of which there is now I believe no doubt, 
and the line be carried on, as it most assuredly will be, 
to Suez, the latter must rise with the rapidity of a 



192 


LETTERS OF 




meteor into importance, as just at present it is beginning 
slowly to do. With the exception of the hotel (a good 
and well-conducted branch establishment of Mr. 
Sheppard of Cairo), the post office, and two or three 
indifferent residences of officials connected with the 
Transit Company's concerns, there is not a house 
in Suez that does not seem dropping to pieces, and 
ready to fall whilst the spectator is looking at it. How 
such crazy tenements of stone and wood hold together 
at all; and, still more, how any people can be fool- 
hardy enough to inhabit them, surpasses my compre- 
hension. 

The hotel I found extremely cool and airy, the wind, 
blowing through every room, made the climate like that 
of a summer's evening at home, nor were there any 
mosquitoes, to whom a brisk wind is an abomination, if 
not a destroyer. 

The next morning I started in a boat for the Akbar, 
lying a mile or two from the town, where the water is 
too shallow for any but small craft to come up. The 
Akbar is an old vessel, and somewhat shaky from hard 
service on her accustomed station between Suez and 
Bombay during the monsoons : so she now lays up in 
harbour in that season, and runs during the fine months 
only. I was very obligingly received on board, and 
invited to sleep there that night, an invitation which 
to my regret I incautiously accepted. The sleeping 
berths I was informed I should find untenantable from 
heat and cockroaches, so they made me a shakedown on 
the floor between decks, rather too close to the breezy 
vicinity of a gangway and windsail to be quite agreeable : 
then at daybreak I was roused up from slumber sweet, 
oy Liie lepuib ui d pou.nu.er just oveiiiedu i iut5 uiui n 
ing gun), after which, there was no peace or rest for 



W. A. BR OM FIELD. — No. 20. 


193 


the sole of the foot, for it happened to be Saturday, and 
all hands were up betimes, turning everyone out of 
his roosting-place, and inundating the deck with a 
deluge of Red-Sea water. So, having breakfasted on 
board, I took my leave with all convenient speed, not at 
all in love with the nautical arrangements of the Akbar, 
though grateful for the kindness and hospitality shewn 
me by the officers. 

The part of the Red Sea, or of the Gulf of Suez 
through which the children of Israel miraculously 
passed, is a matter of much controversy. Sir G. Wilkin- 
son thinks the passage was effected at the fording 
immediately to the eastward of the town, and of which 
there is an excellent view from the hotel window. 
There is no doubt that the sea formerly extended higher 
up the isthmus than at present, since recent shells are 
found in the soil above high-water mark; therefore at 
the time of the passage, it by no means follows that 
(supposing this to have been the site of that event), the 
part of the sea miraculously divided, was of its present 
narrow dimensions and shallowness. Others think that 
the passage was accomplished considerably below, or to 
the southward of the modern Suez ; but the most direct 
road of the children of Israel from the land of Goshen 
where was their chief residence, — or from Zoan, where 
one must infer that many of them were kept in bondage . 
to hard labour in making bricks, — into Canaan, was 
directly round or across the head of the Red Sea, or as 
it is now called, the Gulf of Suez. A still nearer way 
would have been by the coast desert, nearly in the 
present line of caravans from Cairo to Jerusalem, by 
El Arish and Gaza : but we are distinctly told, Exod. 
xiii. 17, 18, that " God led the people about through the 
way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and not through 





194 ( 


LETTERS OF 




the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for 
God said; lest peradventure the people repent when 
they see war, and they return into Egypt." Now, the 
purposed overthrow of Pharoah's host in the Eed Sea, 
might be as perfectly effected on that part of the Gulf 
on which modern Suez stands, as at any other point 
below that town, and particularly at an epoch when the 
head of the Gulf advanced further to the northward 
than at the present time, and the waters were both 
wider and deeper. God's purpose in leading the 
children of Israel through the Red Sea, was to get him 
u honour upon Pharoah and all his host," not to aid their 
escape out of Egypt, which would only have been 
delayed in proportion as their course was in a direction 
south of east. At the same time, the nearest route (in 
a direction north of east, through the country of the 
Philistines), was to be avoided, that the people might 
" not see war." Is it not therefore consonant with 
reason, that the children of Israel should be led forth 
out of Egypt by the most direct path they could take 
consistently with the fulfilment of the two conditions 
required, the avoidance of an enemy's territory, and the 
destruction of Pharoah's army of pursuit. The division 
of the waters by a strong east windy and the expression 
that they were as " a wall " on either hand, together 
with the short time occupied in the passage, seem to 
indicate that this was effected in a part of the Gulf 
both narrow and shallow : a very few feet in depth 
being it is quite clear, sufficient to overwhelm the 
chariots and horses of Pharoah beyond the possibility 
of extricating themselves from the heavy tumbling sea, 
which the coming together of the divided waters would 
occasion. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 



Sir Gardner Wilkinson has I think made out a very 
good case in favour of the ford close to Suez on the 
east, having been the place of the Israelites' passage : 
Arab tradition is on his side, as well as the opinion of 
Dr. Robinson, and other learned travellers ; he remarks, 
moreover, very justly, that were the water even at the 
time of the passage no deeper than in our own, the tide 
which still rises five or six feet, and was in Pharoah's 
days perhaps still higher, would have been a powerful 
means of the destruction of his army on the sudden 
return of the Sea to its strength. See Hand-book for 
Egypt, p. 209-210, passim. 

Just out of Suez to the northward, is a vast and high 
mound, indicating, it is said, the site of the ancient 
Klysma or Clysma, called by the Arabs Kobziin, a 
word signifying destruction, and which has been given, 
Sir G. Wilkinson tells us, to all this part of the Red Sea 
(Gulf of Suez) and the adjacent mountains, in allusion, 
he thinks, to the destruction of Pharoah's host. 

Along the sand-banks that skirt the shore on the west 
side of Suez, I found great quantities of blue, green, 
and red coloured glass, mixed with the common red 
pottery one finds so abundantly composing the soil and 
rubbish of every ancient town in Egypt. This glass 
unquestionably is very ancient, as no manufactory of 
the kind exists at Suez or elsewhere, and the fragments 
are so plentifully dispersed in the sand, that a handful of 
them may be gathered in a few minutes without trouble. 
The colour of the glass is good, and some of the pieces 
are through decomposition beautifully iridescent. Dr. 
Abbott, to whom I shewed them, is of opinion that they 
are of Greek or Roman origin, and not the produce of 
ancient Egyptian industry. Amongst these fragments 
I picked up the neck of a small bottle ; but with such 



19; 



196 



LETTERS OF 



genuine relics of antiquity, are now beginning to be 
mixed the broken remains of far more modern vessels, 
that were but the other day the cherished recipients of 
Bass's pale ale, port, sherry, claret, or some more vulgar 
beverage of Anglo-Indian consumption. 

Suez was nearly depopulated a year or two ago, as I 
remarked before, by the cholera ; more than half the 
inhabitants having been carried olF by it ; the place 
itself is however extremely healthy. The country 
around is a dreary treeless waste, without cultivation : 
but the fine view over the Red Sea, and the mountain 
range on either side of the Gulf, redeem the landscape 
from tameness, and indeed render it sufficiently pictu- 
resque. 

A few miles from Suez is a place called Ain Moussa, 
or Moses' Springs, where the Consul, and other Euro- 
pean residents have a summer retreat ; but this I did 
not visit, as it has no certain historical interest, and is 
only a comparatively greener spot than the surrounding 
country, enjoying a supply of wholesome water. Neither 
did I visit the Bitter Lakes, some distance to the north- 
ward of Suez : they being only small bodies of salt water 
in the desert, the appearance of which I could readily 
imagine from the saline impregnation of the soil close to 
the town, and from those I had seen in Egypt. So full 
of salt is the ground just outside Suez, that the encrus- 
tations left by the evaporation of the rain water-pools 
and plashes, look exactly like the half thawed spongy 
ice one sees in similar shallow pools and puddles during 
winter in England. You may here pick up large pieces 
of pure salt in crystals of considerable size and re- 
gularity. 

Remaining two clear days at Suez, I reached Cairo 
again on the 1st of July, by the same route and convey- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. —No. 20. 


197 


ance I had taken from thence to Suez. The first day 
of my return journey was extremely hot, and the wind 
came like a blast from a furnace, as I trotted along over 
the burning sand. The mirage was extremely distinct and 
frequent, filling the distant landscape with a succession 
of phantom lakes, which mocked the eye with the most 
perfect resemblance of reality, as they lay shining and 
undulating in the thin blue haze. The smallest hollow 
or depression in the surface of the desert, although of 
only a few yards diameter, seen through the mirage, 
appears to be filled with water, or, as it were, a little 
pool : a poor sick child, whom its father was conveying 
across the desert, could by no argument be convinced 
that it was not water that was thus shining cool and 
clear before its longing eyes. 

On the 12th of June, Mr. Page and myself made an 
excursion to the stone quarries of Toorah (the Troici la- 
pidis mons, of the ancients, from whence were brought 
the materials for the pyramids), and to the pyramids of 
Saccareh and mounds of Memphis, near which, at Mit- 
rahenny, lies the colossal statue of Eemeses II. It was 
arranged that we should go down the river in one of 
Mr. Page's boats, whilst two donkey-boys were to pro- 
ceed without delay to Toorah and meet the boat there, 
in order that we might reach the quarries in good time 
to examine them sufficiently ; but the boys thought fit 
not to make their appearance, or they probably got a 
fare nearer home, and with less trouble. The fact is, 
that no dependence can be placed on the word or actions 
of Arabs, they will break a promise or an appointment 
without scruple if it serves their purpose, or if they can 
gain a few fuddahs or paras more by their breach of 
faith. Falsehood, and excessive cupidity are the lead- 
ing vices of the Arabs of Egypt, which, with their 





198 


LETTERS OF 




extreme self-will, make it very difficult to manage them, 
and irksome to employ them in any matter however 
trifling. Dishonesty, at least, as shewn in continual en- 
deavours to over-reach, if not by actual purloining, is an- 
other sad trait in their character, to which their avarice or 
(as perhaps the phrenologist would say) their organs of 
acquisitiveness impel them. The Nubians are thought 
to be more honest, and less mendacious than the Egypt- 
ians, but even they cannot be trusted, as I have learned 
by continual experience. The same fraudulent dealing is 
practised by them towards one another, as well as towards 
strangers, and the result is, a mutual distrust and suspi- 
cion, which is sometimes quite amusingly displayed. An 
Arab for instance, will often ask for his baksheesh or re- 
ward before the stipulated service is rendered, or even 
commenced, or he will at all events be continually 
reminding you of your having promised it ; so fearful is 
he, that when his part of the contract is performed, you 
will fail in the fulfilment of your own, or give him less 
than he bargained for originally. Their avarice and dis- 
trustful disposition, cause the Arabs to be very hard at 
driving a bargain ; and for haggling about the value of 
a para more or less, no people on earth can equal them. 
Having no idea of the value of time themselves, they 
cannot comprehend how others should ; and the purchase 
of the smallest trifle in the bazaars or private shops can- 
not be effected without an expenditure of time greater 
than would be consumed in an English transaction, in 
the transfer of goods to the amount of hundreds of 
pounds. Much may be urged, however, in extenuation 
of Arab rapacity and want of truth : as for instance the 
extreme poverty of the mass of the people, to whom a 

lcW piclbLIco lb di UlIIc lOl lUIltJ , ilIJ kx IIlcU LIIc V\ 1 LLiJliU. 

state of confusion and complexity of the Egyptian cur- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 


199 


rency, which is of nearly fifty different denominations, 
and in value continually fluctuating, so that the most 
expert accountant is often at a loss to know the present 
worth of the native or foreign silver or gold coin that 
passes current in the country, varying as it does from 
day to day according to the exchange, or the decree of 
a corrupt government, which will only receive certain 
coin in payment of taxes or other dues, at a less value 
than the same bears in the market. The difficulty of 
knowing the multifarious coins that find their way into 
his purse, is one of the serious annoyances of the travel- 
ler in Egypt, and opens a door to fraud in every shape. 
Some of the silver coins of less value are actually of 
larger size than their superiors in value : this is also the 
case with the gold spangles that represent a ridiculously 
small sum, in, of course, a very debased standard, and 
which are wholly superfluous ; as silver coins of the same 
denomination, or nearly so, are circulating at the same 
time, and that medium is a much more convenient one. 
Many of the coins of both metals have been clipped 
or punched by the Jews, so that few will receive them 
at their full value, and the reduction is made dependent 
on the caprice of the receiver. Money is so scarce, 
that it is extremely difficult to get change for even 
a Mejeedie dollar of nineteen piastres, unless its value 
has been taken in goods ; and it is only in the 
larger towns that change for so trifling a sum can be 
obtained at all : in a village or small town, the possess- 
ion of large money is as inconvenient as having none. 
An instance in illustration of this, has just occurred to 
me in Damietta (July 24th). Having broken the glass 
of my watch, I went to the shop of a European watch- 
maker (a (jrreek) to nave a new one put m : the price 
charged for a very good fiat glass of English or French 





200 


LETTERS OF 




manufacture, was half a Mejeedie dollar or nine and a 
half piastres. Having no small change, I offered the 
watchmaker one of these coins, but even so respectable 
a tradesman was unable to give me the difference : so 
shutting up his shop, and locking the door, I was kept 
waiting in the street till his return from some accommo- 
dating fellow-tradesman with more ready money than 
himself in the till, who could furnish the change required, 
the value of which was about one shilling and eightpence 
sterling. The same thing has repeatedly happened to 
me in the crowded and well stocked bazaars of the 
Egyptian metropolis itself, it is easier to get change 
for a £ 20 note in England than for a dollar in Egypt. 
Every piece of money received in payment in this coun- 
try is scrutinized with a most suspicious eye, and often 
objected to from having a small hole punched in it, or 
the mark of a file on its edge &c. ; the only coin that 
never causes any trouble to the buyer, or demur on the 
side of the purchaser, is the little five fuddah piece ( of 
copper ) eight of which make a piastre : the para is the 
Turkish word for the Egyptain fuddah. It is absolutely 
necessary on a journey to be furnished with a sufficient 
supply of five fuddah pieces, to pay for such trifling but 
necessary articles as milk, eggs, fowls, fruit, and bread, 
none of which can be had from the peasantry, cr in the 
small provincial towns unless paid for in the lowest de- 
nomination of coin, or at most, in half piastre silver 
pieces of twenty fuddahs ; but these last, if offered in pay- 
ment to a countryman, he would be unable to change, 
or at least pretend to be so. Marketing and shopping 
are consequently in Egypt, the occupation of half a clay, 
and an affair of interminable haggling, wrangling, and 
disputing, the combined results of the over-reaching and 
dishonest character of the sellers, and too often of their 



W. A. BROMFIELD.—Tso. 20. 



201 



customers, as well as of the natural distrust between both, 
and of the scarcity, complexity, and debased quality of 
the coinage, against which, a people naturally avaricious, 
and extremely poor, are always on their guard. In the 
upper country, as the Thebaid, Nubia, &c, money is so 
scarce, that very little of greater value than the five fud- 
dah piece, is to be met with in circulation, excepting in 
the larger towns ; most marketing transactions are car- 
ried on by barter, or partly by exchange, partly in money 
of the above low denomination. Coin, of a higher value, 
is not understood, and when tendered in payment, in 
general is flatly refused, and if the supply of small 
change is exhausted, there is no chance left of procuring 
the necessaries of life. But to return to our trip^down 
the river. From the donkeys not arriving at Toorah, we 
were obliged to set out for the quarries on foot, and 
reached them a short time only before sun-set The 
ancient excavations are being fast destroyed by modern 
ones, the limestone is used for building and for mortar, 
at Cairo, &c. : their interest lies in having furnished the 
stone for the pyramids of Gheezeh, Saccareh &c. ; and 
in exhibiting the way in which the blocks were cut out 
from the solid rock, which is the same with that of the 
Theban mountains, of which the Mokattan range behind 
Cairo is only a continuation. 

The next day we set off on our donkeys for the 
mounds at Memphis, and the pyramids of Saccareh on 
the opposite side of the river. I forgot to mention, that 
on our way to Tooreh the day before, we stopped at 
Gheezeh to visit one of the chicken hatching establish- 
ments so celebrated of old; the ovens are dark, dirty 
holes, and on account of the advanced season, the num- 
ber of eggs in the process of hatching was small. 



202 



LETTERS OF 



The mounds of Memphis, at the modern village of 
Mitrahenny, are of great height and extent, with huge 
fragments of brick substructions jutting out from the 
heaps of rubbish, but only a few memorials of art exist : 
such as the colossal, but now prostrate and broken statue 
of Remeses II, the supposed Sesostris, and two or thre 
other statues of minor importance. The former was, it 
seems, presented by its discoverer to the British Mu- 
seum, but our government has not availed itself of the 
gift, on account probably, of the great expense which 
must attend its removal. It is now not worth taking 
away, for of the features, which a few years ago were, 
as Sir Gr. Wilkinson states, in perfect preservation, and 
very beautiful, we could not make out a trace, so 
mutilated is the face by the Arabs. Continuing 
our ride through richly cultivated fields, and groves of 
date trees, we soon arrived at the village of Saccareh 
on the edge of the desert, over which we had to go for 
some distance further : the great pyramid standing in 
solitary majesty on a ridge of the desert, between which 
and the cultivated land at Saccareh are vast mounds of 
earth filled with human bones : I picked up many 
perfect sculls. This spot marks I believe the site of the 
Necropolis of Memphis. The day, as almost every day 
in Egypt, has been beautifully fine, with the never 
failing north wind blowing so fresh, that though fully 
exposed at the summer solstice to an all but vertical 
sun, on intensely heated sand, not one of us found the 
temperature oppressive. 

From the ridge, on which the great pyramid of 
Saccareh (for there are several smaller ones) stands, you 
have a fine view of the Valley of the Nile, and of the 
entire chain of pyramids, of which, those of Saccareh 
occupy the centre, leaving the pyramids of Gheezeh 




W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 20. 



203 



and Abousheer to the northward, and those of Dashoor, 
about the same distance to the southward: the second, 
and last of these groups I have not visited, being con- 
tented with the good view I had of them from a 
moderate distance, aided by the telescope. Indeed these 
celebrated structures, although so smooth and symmet- 
rical when seen from afar, are rough, unsightly objects 
when approached ; and of all sight-seeing, that of 
pyramids, to one who is not an antiquary, is the most 
wearisome, and monotonous. Yiew these strange masses 
of stone as long as I may, I cannot bring myself to see 
any thing really wonderful or worthy of admiration about 
them : their vast bulk is their only merit, such as it is. 
The real wonders of Egypt, are her marvellous river, 
her colossal statues, and her vast sculptured temples. 

The great pyramid of Saccareh is built in stages or 
degrees, and is much inferior in size to the two chief 
pyramids of Gheezeh, but it is still very large ; and like 
them, a very dilapidated affair when you are close to it. 
In common with its neighbours, it is built of sandstone, 
cased externally with limestone, both, very soft and 
pliable, and the mortar that unites them is equally so ; 
although it is the fashion to talk of the cements of the 
ancients as possessing a durability, which degenerate 
moderns are unable to equal. The base of this pyramid 
is undermined on one of its sides, by time or violence, 
and overhangs the foundation considerably. The ascent 
to the summit is very arduous and fatiguing, and I did 
not attempt it, but I regret not having been able to 
enter this pyramid, the main chamber in which has 
wooden rafters; but the drift sand of the desert had 
closed the entrance, which it is constantly doing, and 
requires to be removed from time to time, when a party 
of travellers arrives to inspect the interior. We had 



204 



LETTERS OF 



only our donkey men, and could not have spared the 
time to seek for hands to remove the sand. The other, 
and much smaller pyramids of the Saccareh group, one j 
of which is called Mustaba Pharoon, or Pharoah's \ 
throne, are in a very ruinous condition. 

We did not visit the Ibis mummy-pits here, the ■ 
descent to which is through extremely narrow passages ■ 
choked as usual with dust and rubbish, the smell very 
unpleasant; and should you penetrate so far, you see 
but little except musty earthen pots containing the 1 
mummified remains of the sacred birds. Of this mole- 
like way of seeing subterranean wonders, I had ex- 
perience enough in the great pyramid, and in Upper 
Egypt, and lack the antiquarian spirit to repeat such 
explorations at the cost of so many annoyances. 

Between Thebes and Assouan is a pyramid on a rock, 
commonly known as the False Pyramid, because the 
rock, as it were, forms part of its base. This pyramid, 
like that of Saccareh, is built in stages or degrees, and 
although not large, is a conspicuous object from the 
Nile near which it stands. 

Our return to Cairo was rendered tedious and un- 
pleasant, although the distance was so short, by the 
strong northerly wind, and from not having laid in a I 
stock of provisions to meet the detention. 

A short time before making this trip, I visited the 
celebrated Nilometer at the southern extremity of 
Ehoda Island above Old Cairo. The slender, angular, 
stone column, roughly graduated into cubits, palms, and 
digits, stands in a square well or chamber of excellent 
Saracenic masonry, with Cufic inscriptions round the 
cornice as sharp as when first cut. Although when I 11 
visited it last month, the Nile was at its lowest, the base j 
of the pillar was immersed to the depth of two or three 




TV. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 


205 


feet, and such has been the rise of the bed of the river 
since the construction of the existing Xilometer, that at 
high Nile the entire column, and the chamber containing 
it, are submerged, and the graduation has to be con- 
tinued on a painted board, placed against one of the 
supports of the canopy which covers the chamber, and 
which is quite modern, the old canopy having been 
thrown down some years ago. The date of the present 
Nilometer is of the tenth century. 

* # # * 




Adieu : believe me, dear E , 




Your affectionate Brother, 




William Arnold Bromfield. 




(Letter XXL) 




Damietta, July, 1851. 




My dear E 




The excursion to the site of Heliopolis, the On of 
Scripture, occupies about three hours on a good donkey, 
and was made by me in that wise, June 2\st. The road 
lies across some of the prettiest scenery around Cairo, 
the neighbourhood of which abounds with fine views on 
nearly every side, singular pictures, m which the richest 
luxuriance and the most absolute sterility are seen side 





206 


LETTERS OF 




by side ; the bold ranges of the Mokattan hills, and the 
innumerable mosques, minarets, and elaborately adorned 
Saracenic buildings, relieving the landscape from that 
tameness which the flat shores of the Nile, and the level 
plain of the Delta would otherwise impart to it. 

The road to Heliopolis runs between fields in high 
cultivation, and is bordered in many parts with noble 
tamarisks and sycomores. You pass out of Cairo by 
the Babel Nusr, one of the finest of the many beautiful 
old gates of this most picturesque of cities, and near 
which is the fine mosque of the Sultan Berdouk. 
Emerging from this gate you enter on the desert plain 3 
on whose bare surface stand the numerous tombs of the 
Circassian Mamalouk kings, to some of which a mosque 
is attached. These are domed structures, of great rich- 
ness and elegance of architectural detail, although some 
barbarisms are always mixed with the better style ; and 
while at a distance appearing fresh and entire, discover 
on a nearer approach woful dilapidation and neglect. 
Farther on, the present Pasha has built an immense 
palace, the chief view from which, seems to command a 
huge range of ugly whitewashed barracks close in front 
of the building, which is the lightest and prettiest of all 
the palaces I have seen in Egypt, for they are generally 
the most tasteless, ill-finished, and flimsy structures 
imaginable. Abbas Pasha is possessed of a perfect 
mania for palace building, and I believe has some half- 
dozen in hand at this moment ; one, I have only passed 
an hour ago, on the banks of this branch (the Damietta) 
of the river at Baunah Hassan, and which seems 
modelled after a first-rate union poor-house in England. 
Besides the Citadel, he has two palaces close to Cairo 
on the Suez road \ and I saw another in the middle of 
the desert between Cairo and Suez, perched on a high 



i 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 



207 



ridge, and near to which, I met, on my return from the 
latter place, a number of the ladies of his hareem tra- 
velling in the carriages of the Transit Administration : I 
suppose, for the sake of inhaling the. desert air, which, 
as I have before said, is a marvellous restorative, and, to 
these poor secluded creatures, probably the best of me- 
dicine. The Pasha has also a palace on the western or 
Rosetta branch of the river, besides that of his pre- 
decessor Mohammed Ali at Alexandria. The labour on 
these works is all forced, the men being compelled to 
leave their ordinary occupations to serve the government 
(that is, the governor), at a low nominal rate of wages, 
which, besides that it is very irregularly paid, is often 
partly given in sugar, cloth, or other necessaries, at high 
government prices, and always of inferior quality. 
The poor labourers are marched together to their tasks 
chained like felons, and it is most lamentable to see the 
number of children that are employed to carry stone 
and other heavy burdens much beyond their strength, 
The Egyptian children are the most interesting portion 
of the population ; they are often very pretty, and very 
generally artless and engaging : their features, (especially 
among the Copts) often forcibly recall those of Egypt's 
ancient inhabitants as depicted in their sculptures and 
paintings; but a large proportion look wan and ema- 
ciated, and diseases of the eyes afflict at least half their 
number. The amount of blind, half blind, and squinting 
people one meets at every step in the streets of Cairo, 
is indeed incredible ; in the provinces, complaints of the 
eyes are less rife, but still obtrude prominently on the 
traveller's notice. 

But to return to Heliopolis. Although now in the 
height of summer, and the sun shining as usual, in an 
unclouded, though somewhat opaque or hazy sky, my 



208 



LETTERS OF 



mid-day journey was performed as pleasantly as if on a 
temperate day in the same season in England ; so 
freshly blew the north wind, to which the Egyptians 
are indebted for preventing their country becoming 
the fiery furnace we are apt to suppose it during at 
least half the year, and which it assuredly would be 
were this refreshing wind to cease for only a few days 
at this season. Even at the present moment whilst 
writing, although it is a sore adversary in the way of 
my watery path, I hail its influence with thankfulness, 
for blowing over and into my wooden abode, it keeps 
the temperature of the cabin within reasonable limits. 

Whilst this is penned, a delicate thermometer on my 
writing table stands at 1)6° (time quarter-past two p.m.), 
a temperature by no means to be considered high at 
this season, in a boat whose wooden roof gets thoroughly 
heated by the long day's sun. At Cairo, during June, 
and what has elapsed of J uly, I believe the thermometer 
has seldom exceeded 90° in the shade ; whenever I have 
looked at the instrument, it has generally marked about 
84° — 86° during the day : but at night (though the heat 
within doors has not been much below these points till 
towards morning, when it sinks at least eight or ten 
degrees), out of doors, the night air has always felt 
decidedly cool and invigorating. 

The only object of antiquity still standing at Heli- 
o, olis, is the obelisk, which is just beyond the pretty 
village of Matareeh, a place, that itself occupies a part 
of the site of On, as is evidenced by the mounds on 
which the modern village is built e The obelisk stands 
in a pretty garden of fruit trees, and I must confess, 
requires the eye of an antiquary to appreciate its merits, 
or admire its proportions. I think that as an object of 
art, it is not a whit superior to Cleopatra's needle at 




W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 


209 


Alexandria, and to an uninitiated person will not bear 
looking at after the beautiful colossal and profusely 
sculptured monoliths of the kind at Luxor and Karnak. 
This at Heliopolis is but sixty-eight feet high, including 
the much damaged pedestal, around which, excavations 
are now in progress at the suggestion of some inquisitive 
Europeans, to ascertain the rise of the soil, and of 
the bed of the Nile since its erection. The situation of 
the obelisk shews that On or Heliopolis stood on the 
edge of the cultivated land, the desert being close 
beside it, not a quarter of a mile distant : and it is well 
known that most of the ancient cities of Egypt stood 
either on the desert, as do many of the modern villages, 
or on the very border of the cultivated ground, with a 
view to occupy as little as possible of the narrow, and 
therefore more valuable strip of cultivation which marked 
the limits of the inundation. When on the site of He- 
liopolis, it was interesting to reflect that Plato and 
Eudoxus studied the " learning of the Egyptians " in 
this once famous seat of science, and that it was the 
daughter of a priest of On who became the wife of 
J oseph, at the beginning of his prosperous career at the 
court of Pharaoh. The obelisk is of the age, it is said, 
of Osirtasen I. who, according to Sir G. Wilkinson, was 
the reigning monarch in Joseph's time, and the situation 
still bears amongst the vulgar the name of Hagar al 
Pharoon, or Pharaoh's stone. I may here remark, that 
the traditions still extant amongst the lower classes of 
Egyptians relative to the old Pharaonic line of their 
monarchs, are in general the reverse of complimentary 
to the characters of this dynasty. Everything strange, 
ugly, mysterious, or colossal, is attributed to El Pharoon, 
who m thp imn,on nation of t.hp Iowpt* p.Iassps hprp or in 

V Y J.JLVy» 111 L 1 1 V_* 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 -L 1 ( ^ L.-1V/1 1 \JX lllU XV/ VV V* -1 Vvld k k ^ O llV^-l \J± 111 

England, is a shadowy personification of the whole 





o 



210 



LETTERS OF 



royal line of the name : popular opinion identifying as 
one and the same individual, the benefactor of Joseph, 
and the iron-hearted oppressor of the Israelites. 

The ancient Heliopolis was celebrated for its gardens, 
which cherished the famous balsam or balm of Gilead- 
tree of Judea, which had been transferred hither, it is 
said, by Cleopatra from Palestine; but, whatever the 
plant might have been, it is no longer to be found on 
this spot ; although Matareeh, the modern successor of 
Heliopolis, still sustains the ancient reputation for hor- 
ticulture which the latter enjoyed in its glory. The 
same kind of balsam as that alleged to have been the 
produce of Jericho and On, is still said to be an article 
of commerce in Arabia, and to be imported into Egypt 
and Europe at the present day, under the term of 
balsam of Mecca. I have a strong suspicion that this 
renowned production of the East, is neither more nor 
less than common Storax, an exudation from a tree 
frequent in Syria ( Styrax officinarum) ; but in this I 
may possibly be mistaken. I merely hint the sup- 
position, because in England I am not aware that any 
article going under the name of balm of Gilead or 
Mecca balsam is known in our shops, although Storax is 
to be met with; and were the other possessed of any 
qualities rendering it really valuable and desirable as an 
article of consumption, or for its fragrance, or medicinal 
properties, I think it very unlikely that it should remain 
unknown to our druggists by name. 

In a fine, and well kept garden at Matareeh belonging 
to Abbas Pasha, stands a venerable sycomore, under the 
shade of which Joseph and Mary with the Infant 
Saviour halted on the flight into Egypt, according to 
Coptic tradition. Without placing implicit faith in a 
story handed down amongst a christian sect so noto- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 



211 



riously ignorant and superstitious as the Copts, I can 
yet believe the tree may have been in existence at the 
time of the i( flight," for its appearance indicates 
extreme age; but supposing this possible, if not pro- 
bable, the tree must have been in its infancy in those 
days, and much too youthful to have afforded any great 
degree of shade to the holy and way-worn group. 
However, I filled my tin box with twigs from the sacred 
Saggar el sitte Miriam (tree of the Virgin Mary,) as this 
venerable vegetable antique is styled ; driving out of 
my mind for the nonce as much as I could of the doubt 
which mingled with my willing belief in the legend. I 
could not have that satisfaction of eating the fruit, which 
might have strengthened my faith, for alas ! the figs 
had all been plucked by former visitors, or the tree 
had become too old for bearing, I know not which. 
The garden in which the tree stands is very pretty, 
but like all gardens in this country, contains but little 
, variety of plants, and those chiefly shrubs, and orna- 
i mental or useful trees. 

Before leaving Cairo, I had an opportunity which 
I I had almost despaired of, of seeing the gardens at 
• Shoobra, about four miles from that city, and the finest 
r in Egypt, but which have been closed to the public for 
some time. Through the kindness of Dr. Abbot I 
obtained access to them a day or two before leaving 
I Cairo, All gardens are laid out on the same plan in 
this country in long straight alleys or walks, crossing at 
right angles, or converging to a centre, where is often a 
kiosk or summer residence of the owner. Every garden, 
like every field, must be kept perpetually watered by the 
sakeeyeh or shadoof (the Persian wheel, or the more 
I simple pole and bucket), in this arid clime. Egyptian 
gardens, both public and private, consist of squares or 



212 



LETTERS OF 



phalanxes of trees, intersected by little raised channels, 
or water courses, fed by the wheel at the river, or from 
a well of generally brackish water on the premises, which 
is also raised by one or other of the two primitive ma- 
chines just named ; for pumps are unknown, except in 
Frank houses, or in sugar manufactories, in every part of 
Egypt. The trees are mostly of the following scanty 
catalogue ; various others are met with there, but are 
not in such common employment for ornament or 
utility. Orange, Lemon, Lime, (abundant) Pome- 
granate, Myrtle, Oleander, Fig-sycomore, ( Ficus Sy- 
comorus) Mulberry, (Morus alba and nigra); Nebr, 
( Zizyphus spina Christi), Prickly Pear or Indian fig, 
( Opuntia vulgaris, Cactus Opuntia L. ) chiefly for 
hedges; Cassia fistula, Lebbek, (Accacia Lebbek) a 
native of India, and the pride of Cairo in the Usbekeeh 
&c, Poplar, ( Populus Alba) a tree of northern origin, 
but which resists drought and heat to a surprising 
degree, although delighting in wet places; Willow, 
( Weeping W. chiefly, Salix babylonica ) Khenna, 
(Lawsonia inermis spinosa) called in England Egyptian 
Privet, and in Jamaica Mignionette-tree. The leaves 
of the Khenna are in great demand when dried, for 
tinging the nails, fingers, and palms of the hands of a 
dull orange colour, amongst the Egyptian women of all 
classes, and even the men colour the nails of the hands 
and feet with this very unbecoming pigment. Roses, 
which grow well in Egypt, and are very sweet, form 
with flowering shoots of Khenna almost the only 
fragrant nosegays in use amongst the people, and 
branches of Khenna either by itself, or encircled by 
roses, are hawked about the streets, and sold for a few 
paras or fuddahs, and are carried at the many public 
and private processions that are perpetually blocking up 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 


213 


the narrow thoroughfares of Cairo, thronged as they 
necessarily are with the passing stream of every day 
life, carts, carriages, donkeys, horses, camels, and the 
human animal. The scent of the Khenna blossom is 
very powerful ; to myself, it recalls that of roses mixed 
with the fragrance of the wall-flower; but the flowers 
soon fade, and the smell becomes vapid, and positively 
unpleasant. I have no where met with the shrub wild 
in Egypt or Nubia, but it is raised abundantly along 
the Nile in both countries for its leaves, and about Cairo 
for its flowers ; a fence or plantation of Lawsonia will 
perfume the air of the whole neighbourhood, particularly 
in the cool of the evening.* The other shrubs in 
general cultivation in Egyptian gardens for ornament, 
are, Jessamine, white and yellow, ( Jasminum officinale, 
and J. revolutum ? ) the former, a larger flowered variety 
than ours ; the pretty Duranta Ellisii, most extensively 
used for garden hedges; Sessaban, (Sesbania ^Egyptiaca) 
wild in the upper country; a beautiful purple convol- 
volus, with deeply five-cleft leaves, used for covering 
walls and houses, and which I also found in its wild 
state in Nubia, but do not know the name of at 
present. These, with some others, are the principal 
plants of a ligneous or arborescent character seen in 
cultivation. Of Egyptian floriculture, very little can 
be said in praise ; the garden of the humblest cottage 
in England can shew a more choice assortment of 
border flowers, than that of the proudest palace of the 
ruler of Egypt himself. 




* The common Pig of Egypt is a variety I have never remarked in 
European gardens, it is of low stature, and distinguishable at a glance 
by the lobes of the leaves, which are longer, and produced into an acute 
point (especially the middle lobe) which is not the case in the common 
varieties, and the leaves have not the shining glossy appearance of the 
European forms ; the fig however, is one of the very few good fruits 
which Egypt produces, simply because it requires no care. 



214 



LETTERS OF 



i 



Of the fruits of Egypt, I can now say with confidence, 
that on the whole, in no part of the world, are they 
fewer in number, or of worse quality. This is the height 
of the season, and I have visited the fruit and vegetable 
markets of Cairo repeatedly, as well as those of the pro- 
vincial towns, and found little or no variety in any of 
them. Water-melons hold the first rank among Egyp- 
tian fruits ; they are grown in vast quantities in the 
fields throughout this country and Nubia, and at this 
time of year constitute a great item in the diet of the 
poorer and middling classes, and are seen at the table of 
the upper ranks also, it being the custom to eat slices of 
water-melon at dinner in the intervals of each dish that 
you partake of. They certainly come to great perfec- 
tion in this country, and, as I myself experience, may be 
eaten freely in any quantity without danger ; and deli- 
ciously refreshing the pulp of the water-melon is in this 
sultry climate. Grapes are plentiful, and have been in 
season about three weeks : they are of all kinds, good, 
bad, and indifferent. This, after the water-melon, is the 
fruit most to be depended upon for quality : but grapes 
are neither so abundant nor so cheap as the former. I for- 
got to say, that common melons of every kind are plen- 
tiful in the markets, but not liking this fruit, I am no 
judge of their merits : I believe however, from the report 
of others, that a large proportion are of very indifferent 
sorts ; no pains being bestowed in Egypt in selecting and 
propagating superior varieties of fruit and vegetables: 
grafting and budding being rarely practised, and thin- 
ning out and pruning equally neglected, every advantage 
that the sunny clime of Egypt would afford to the horti- 
culturist is thrown away. Stone fruit is universally bad : 
the fruiterers' stalls and the markets are now filled with 
peaches, fair to the eye, but small, and very stones for 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 


215 


hardness, on one side at least. Most of the peaches here, 
have a point or projection opposite the stalk, and a some- 
what oval form. Apricots are over for the season : all 
I have seen are extremely small, hard, and tasteless, and 
are usually gathered before they are quite ripe. In 
Syria, apricots are dried in great quantities, and exported 
to Egypt under the name of Mishnmsh, where they con- 
stitute a most palatable and convenient article of a 
traveller's commissariat ; as, when stewed, they make an 
excellent dish, soon got ready ; the fruit keeps perfectly 
well in this dry climate, and sufficient for a month's con- 
sumption, or longer, can be stowed in a very small 
compass. Mishmush was a principal article in our cuisine 
during our voyage up the Nile, and from its portability, 
it is excellently adapted for desert travelling. Zummer e 
deen (the moon of the faithful) is the same fruit differ- 
ently prepared, and is equally known as mishmush, but 
is very inferior in quality to the former kind. It consists 
of the pulp of the apricot rolled out (after drying I 
should suppose ) into thin sheets two or three feet long, 
and a foot or two in width ; and from its dark colour, 
and the edges of the sheet being left untrimmed, it re- 
sembles nothing so much as a blacksmith's old leather 
apron ; when dressed, however, it is no despicable dish, 
and in the upper country is the kind of mishmush most 
usually seen in the markets ; we could seldom procure the 
entire fruit, and when we could, it was rarely of the best 
description. A small round plum, the size and colour of 
our greengage, and ( if I recollect right ) very like the 
Yorkshire wine-sour, is sold in quantities, and though 
scarcely eatable at dessert, is the only plum I have seen 
in the country. A dish of small wretched green apples 
and pears, made its appearance for several weeks 
successively at the dessert at Shepherd's hotel, for orna- 





216 


LETTERS OF 




ment only I suppose, as no one could reasonably be 
expected to partake of them ! Figs are good and plenti- 
ful : the larger kinds, as the green Ischia &c. I have never 
seen in Egypt, and I have eaten figs from St. John's 
garden at Ryde fully as saccharine, and as well-flavoured 
as in this country. Pomegranates abound later in the 
season ; I eat them in their perfection last year at Alex- 
andria, Cairo, and up the Nile ; but at best, they are an 
insipid, though refreshing, and splendid looking fruit. 
Bananas succeed well even in Lower Egypt, where I have 
eaten them as good as in the West Indies ; but their 
cultivation is confined to the gardens of the wealthier 
class generally, and to the vicinity of the principal 
towns. Dates of course grow every where, and are so 
emphatically the fruit of the country, as to have obtained 
the name of Iamr, a word which signifies fruit of all 
kinds, in Arabic. This concludes the list of eatable fruits, 
or such as might be made so at least by proper culture 
in Egypt ; there are others called fruits by courtesy, 
such as the Prickly Pear ( Cactus Opuntia ), the Nebr, 
(Zyziphus Spina Christi), and especially that of the 
Sycomore ( Ficus Sycomorus ) whose figs are much in 
request amongst the common people. In taste, as well 
as in aspect they resemble the common fig (Ficus 
Carica ) but are vastly inferior in the quantity of sac- 
charine matter they contain. Of the vegetables, esculent 
and economical, which are grown in the valley of the 
Nile, I shall give an account at some future time. A 
bare list of the various productions that line the banks 
of this ancient stream, with, I really believe, not a single 
mile of interruption in any part of its vast length, 
would almost fill one of these pages.* 

* In some parts of the Nubian valley, the desert descends to what 
may in common parlance be called the water's edge, yet even m these 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 


217 


On the Sth of July, I came up with a lion of the 
neighbourhood of the Egyptian metropolis, the so called 
e< petrified forest." This is nothing more than a large 
tract of sandy and stony desert, stretching for several 
miles at the back of the Mokattan ridge, bestrewn with 
fragments of agatized wood, and even with trunks of 
trees similarly agatized. The larger specimens are 
always broken across in several places, and are some- 
times many feet in length : the stumps of the trees are 
here and there to be seen standing in their original 
position two feet above ground, but completely agatized 
like the rest. The quantity of wood thus transformed 
is immense, and chiefly belongs to some palm : a species 
of Bombax is said to occur also, but I could find no 
specimens of it. 

The scenery of the rocky hills of Mokattan is exces- 
sively dreary. The distance from Cairo to the best part of 
the forest is not above six miles ; I rode out on a donkey 
accompanied by the same Arab who went with me to 
Suez, and who, on both trips, rigidly resisted eating a 
morsel of biscuit, or drinking a drop of water between 
sun-rise and sun-set (it being the fast of Ramadan), 
although compelled to trudge beside my donkey all day 
in a burning sun, which must have occasioned excessive 
longing for drink. The lower orders observe the fast of 
Ramadan with exemplary abstinence ; whilst among the 
higher classes (the Turks especially) I am told it is in 
private generally disregarded. 

Just before quitting Cairo on the 10th of July, I had 
an opportunity of witnessing the performance of the 




spots, the declivity of one or both banks bears a strip of cultivation 
reduced to a few yards in width, being the space included between the 
water level at high and low Nile. I do not remember to have remarked 
a complete interruption to cultivation on both banks, in any part of the 
valley. 



218 


LETTERS OF 




serpent charmers who profess to clear the houses of the 
city of the reptiles of that order, with which they are 
all more or less infested. Dr. Abbott kindly allowed me 
to bring the men to his house, in which they captured six 
snakes of a harmless description in less than half-an- 
hour, which number included no less than three different 
species. These snake-charmers belong in general to a 
particular tribe of Arabs, who boast of having possessed 
their mysterious faculty for an indefinitely long period. 
The chief actor, in this case, was a fine looking man, 
with a handsome and intelligent, but peculiar, cast of 
countenance. He carried a stick in his hand, with which 
on entering each apartment, he struck the walls several 
times, uttering, in a low and measured tone, a form of 
exorcism in Arabic, adjuring, and commanding the ser- 
pent, which he declared, immediately on the door being 
thrown open, was lurking in the walls or ceiling, to come 
forth. Presently, the reptile would be seen emerging 
from some hole or corner, with which every room even 
in the better class of Egyptian houses abounds ; on 
which the enchanter would draw the unwilling serpent 
towards him with the point of the stick, and when 
within reach, put it in the bag he carried about with 
him for that purpose. It is said that the charmer 
conceals one or more serpents in his ample sleeves, and 
these he contrives to let loose in the apartment during 
his evolutions with the stick ; such may very possibly be 
the case, seeing that in ordinary juggling tricks the 
quickest eye may be deceived by the dexterity and 
rapidity of the performer's movements. I can only 
declare, that I was myself utterly unable to detect such 
a manoeuvre as that on which the operation of charming 
these reptiles is said to be rounded ; tor although the 
charmer did not allow the spectator to be actually in the 




W. A, BR OMFIELD. — No. 21. 



219 



room during the exorcism, he permitted persons to stand 
close behind him, whilst at the same time, the door of 
the apartment was thrown wide open. Besides, I have 
been assured by persons of the highest credit, that they 
have witnessed the feats of the serpent-charmers after 
their garments had been thoroughly searched for con- 
cealed serpents ; that they have been made to change 
their clothes for others provided by the owner of the 
house ; and, what is yet more convincing, have fre- 
quently been compelled to divest themselves of all 
covering before entering the room they engaged to clear. 
It is usual to object, that in these extreme trials, the 
serpents were introduced upon the premises the night 
previous to the experiment, by persons who usually 
accompany the chief performers ; but it is not easy to 
conceive how, without some secret mode of enticing 
them from their lurking places, serpents, so introduced, 
could be found, and captured, at the precise moment 
when it was desired to do so, as the nature of this class 
of reptiles is to ramble about in holes and obscure 
retreats, and to withdraw from the eye of man, rather 
than, like the lizard tribe, to frequent open sunny 
situations where they are much exposed to view. Sup- 
posing the serpents to be introduced, at the time of 
exorcising, by the performer's attendants, (which could 
not be done in the room in which the charmer himself 
exhibits, as he always enters alone ; and under such 
rigid examination, when every precaution is taken to 
prevent deception, he would not be allowed to have a 
companion), how I say, could the reptiles be prevented 
from making their escape amongst the rafters, or in the 
holes about the apartment, which instinct would as- 
suredly teach them to do, rather than come and present 
themselves to view, unless impelled to shew themselves 



220 



LETTERS OF 



by some influence like that by which they are apparently 
induced to come forth from their retreats at the word of 
the enchanter. Were the art of serpent-charming a 
mere juggling deception, how could it for so many ages 
have been exercised as a profitable employment by a 
particular tribe ? ; — it being, in fact, customary in Cairo 
to send to the serpent-charmer when a house is much in- 
fested with serpents, just as we should require the services 
of a rat-catcher, to rid our premises of those destructive 
animals. The extreme antiquity of serpent-charming 
is much in favour of its honesty as an art ; and were it 
once ascertained that conveying serpents to the premises 
to be cleared, was a general, or even frequent practice, 
the poor, and generally covetous, and parsimonious 
Cairenes, would not give a para to have their houses 
stocked with noxious reptiles under the pretence of 
being rid of them. I certainly did not witness the 
exhibition under any of the above mentioned circum- 
stances of rigid scrutiny, but the men were taken from 
the street to Dr. Abbott's house without a moment's 
previous intimation as to whither they were about to be 
conducted. One or two circumstances respecting the 
kind of serpent brought forth, and the weak, torpid 
condition of the whole six, throw a shadow of suspicion 
on the matter, but I am not prepared to object too 
strongly against either of these points ; the torpidity of 
the reptiles might be the effect of the incantation, what»- 
ever that singular process may consist in ; and although 
one kind was a species of slow-worm, it does not follow, 
that because our own indigenous reptile of that name 
never is found in houses, that no other species of the 
genus can inhabit the haunts of man, as the same may 
be said of all our English serpents, which shun the 
abodes of mankind ; whereas, in warmer climates, snakes 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 


221 


of various, and totally different genera, haunt houses 
even in the crowded purlieus of a great city, as at Cairo, 
where perhaps not a house is free from them. The 
serpent charmers pretended to secure me from the 
accidental effect of the bite of these reptiles, by the not 
very pleasant process of blowing into the mouth, and 
afterwards pressing the lobe of my left ear between the 
jaws of one of the snakes, so as to draw a little blood. 
My late experience in the case of poor Ameen's scorpion's 
sting in the desert, did not strengthen my confidence in 
the charm with which, at far less cost of money and 
suffering, I was fortified by the Cairene exorcist. 




* * * * 




Always my dear E., 

Your affectionate Brother, 




William Arnold Bromfield. 




(Letter XXII.) 




On Board a Nile Boat, between 




Cairo and Damietta, 




July \2th, 1851. 




My dear E 




The present time finds me once more in one of 
Mr. Page's comfortable Diabeeyehs or travelling Nile- 
boats, almost an exact counterpart of the Mary Victoria 
but rather larger, floating down the mighty river on its 





222 



LETTERS OF 



now fast rising waters towards the blue Mediterranean, 
with the Etesian wind still my opponent as heretofore, 
though now tamed down to a gentler breeze, the ex- 
treme coolness and freshness of which make amends for 
the delay it occasions. Books, botany, my gun, and the 
hopeless task of teaching Saad to speak English, fill up 
the solitary hours very pleasantly ; the crew of Egyp- 
tians are much more tractable than the unmanageable, 
lazy, and less robust Berbers, who, though they so well 
manned our bark in our late expedition up the river, 
gave us no end of trouble on the passage down. I left 
Cairo on the 10th, and ought to arrive at Damietta in 
four or five days. For the boat, I paid five pounds, 
which included every expence. I can retain it, free of 
all further cost, for two days after reaching Damietta ; 
and have then the option of residing on board as long 
as I please, by paying one dollar, or twenty piastres 
per diem, for wages to the crew — should I prefer the 
boat to pitching my tent on shore, in the interval before 
embarking for Jaffa which may be of some days 
duration, since there may not be a vessel ready to sail 
immediately for that port. I expect to find some good 
plants in the swamps and rice grounds of Damietta and 
the Lake Menzeleh, to which last I hope to pay a visit 
and see the Papyrus, still reported, though on very 
questionable authority, to flourish there as of yore. I 
wish also, if time permits, to make an excursion to 
Tanis or San, the ancient Zoan, u the field " of many 
Divine wonders at the time of the Exodus. 

Damietta, July 16th. I left Cairo in the height of the 
great Mohammedan fast of Ramadan, which continues 
about fifty days, and is the most unfortunate time for a 
traveller to journey in, since everybody observes a 
strict fast from two hours before sun-rise, till sun- 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 


223 


set of the same day ; an empty stomach being little 
conducive to continued activity of the body, or to the 
best humour of mind. Accordingly at this season, it is 
usual to turn night into day, and day into night, the 
former being spent chiefly in making amends for the 
austerities and privations of the latter, and very few of 
any class are found willing or able to exert themselves 
in their daily occupations as at other times : hence the 
requirements of a traveller are very liable to delay from 
the universal abandonment of the population to sleep 
and listless inactivity during the day, increased by the 
vigils, if not the excesses, of the previous night. The 
protracted fast of Eamadan is followed by three days of 
joyous festivity, to the no less disarrangement of the 
traveller's plans and desire for progress; and at this 
most inauspicious time I found myself at Damietta, both 
man and the elements opposed to my immediate exit 
from Egypt, and flight into Asia. 

I had a very pleasant, though not short passage of 
five days to Damietta, this branch of the Nile being far 
superior in attractions to the other main division of the 
river, the so-called Kosetta one, which travellers from 
Alexandria to Cairo join at Adfeh, the embouchure of 
the Mahmoudieh canal. It abounds in pretty pastoral, 
and rich agricultural scenery, which in its primitive 
character recalls the patriarchal days of scripture history. 
The landscape presents a plain of rich verdure from the 
abundant crops of cotton, sessame, tobacco, carmiehs, 
dhourah, flax, &c, the villages and towns succeeding 
each other at short intervals. 

We passed Busiris, near which are the ruins of Zel 
Basta the ancient Bubastes, where was a famous temple 
ueuicdLCu. to me -cjgypnan j^idna, wno was caneu. oy mat 
name ; but these circumstances did not allow me to visit. 





224 


LETTERS OF 




At Seminood (the ancient Sebennytus) are very lofty 
and extensive mounds, from the summit of which, I 
obtained a splendid view over the rich Delta. These 
mounds sufficiently attest the extent of the city of 
which they are the crumbling remains ; and the number 
of towns and villages visible from their summits, rising 
amid palm groves, and fields teeming with the richest 
products of agriculture, cheat one into the momentary 
belief, that so fertile a country must be both rich and 
happy, instead of being the poorest, and most miserable, 
because the worst governed country upon earth. 

July 14th. Between Seminood and Mansoureh stands 
Bebayt el Hagar, close to which are the ruins of a fine 
temple of Isis, the ancient Iseum, which I visited. 
These remains consist of vast blocks of beautifully 
sculptured granite, parts of massive edifices, in the 
destruction of which, (by Cambyses ? ) extraordinary 
violence must have been used ; the different parts lying 
piled one on another in such utter confusion, that one 
can conceive that no less agency than that of an earth- 
quake has effected such complete disruption and over- 
throw. There is nothing that strikes me more, than the 
evidences of extreme violence used in the destruction of 
the colossal monuments of Egypt: they look as if 
nothing short of some explosive agent had heaped the 
different parts on one another, particularly in this 
instance, not a stone of this once beautiful temple 
standing in its original situation. 

Mansoureh is a large town, and for Egypt, a flourish- 
ing place ; here, rice cultivation begins extensively, but 
this grain is even now not in flower, and does not ripen 
till October. 

The country between Mansoureh and Damietta is 
very pleasing, and gives the idea of exuberant fertility, 



W. A. BR OMFIEL D. — No . 22. 



225 



and the number of towns and villages which succeed one 
another at short intervals, evinces a well peopled 
country. 

I reached Mansoureh on the 15th in the evening : the 
weather which had been delightful all day, approached 
so closely upon cold at night, as to oblige me to draw 
up the jalousies of my sleeping place. It is this great 
difference of temperature between the day and night, 
combined with the humidity and exhalations from the 
rice fields, which renders the sea board of Egypt liable 
to fever and ague at this season, as well as to dysentery 
and ophthalmia. Mansoureh was the prison of Louis 
IX, in the time of the Crusades, and is connected with 
the Lake Menzaleh by the fine canal of that name, but 
which at this time was nearly dry, and in some parts 
quite so. 

I witnessed to day, a singular attempt of a large snake 
to make his way against the current of the Nile : 
after persevering for about a quarter of an hour to stem 
the stream, he, with the wisdom of his race, yielded to 
the force of circumstances, and turning his head in the 
contrary direction, was carried without effort on his 
part towards the Mediterranean, in which quarter, it is 
probable, whatever affairs had called him abroad would 
be as well transacted. 

The following day (July 16th) I arrived at Damietta 
(Damyat), the approach to which reminded me consider- 
ably of Venice, the houses seeming to rise immediately 
from the river, as those of that city do from the lagoon ; 
but all further resemblance vanishes at the instant of 
landing : — a more ugly, uninteresting town than Dam- 
ietta, I have no where seen in the East ; it has not one 
of the redeeming features of Cairo. The rambling di- 
lapidated houses are of a crumbling, and most perishable 



226 


LETTERS OF 




brick, giving all the decay of antiquity, without its 
venerableness. I delivered my credentials, on arriving, 
to the English Consul, M. Serure, a native of Syria, 
who received me with much civility, and at whose house 
in the outskirts of the town I afterwards dined. The 
Consul speaks no other language than his own Arabic, 
and Italian, so that we were obliged to converse in a 
great degree through an interpreter, from my imperfect 
acquaintance with Italian as a spoken language : but his 
chief assistant, who conducts the business of the con- 
sulate, and is, I believe, called the Cancelliere M. Filli- 
poni, proved extremely kind and attentive to me during 
my forced stay at Damietta, and doubtless procured for 
me the best accommodations in his power ; a large for- 
lorn unfurnished room, in a tenement (I will not call it 
house ), of such strange rambling construction, and 
extravagant dimensions, that I am absolutely at a loss 
to say whether it w T as a single habitation, or an aggre- 
gate of twenty, or upwards ; such a labyrinth of pass- 
ages opening into rooms inhabited, and uninhabited, 
receptacles of dust, dirt, and rubbish of every kind ; — 
dark, dismal corridors, whose walls were running down 
with the damp, Avhich had been attracted by the salt 
and nitrate of lime abounding in the soil of Lower 
Egypt, and in the mortar and plaster used in the con- 
struction of the buildings. Before I could take posses- 
sion of my forlorn quarters, they had to be swept, and 
the greater part of the dust and rubbish, ( for enough 
of both were left behind to have given employment to 
half a dozen housemaids for an hour, and the cobwebs 
aloft were not disturbed), removed from the apartment 
to augment a heap of similar materials on the same 
iioor, adjoining another deserted room, which baad con- 
verted into a kitchen. This latter apartment Saad 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 



227 



affirmed to be haunted by a large snake, as I have 
already related. There being no bedstead in the room, 
the mattrass was spread on the floor, which I speedily 
discovered to be peopled by innumerable hosts of fleas, 
bugs, ants, and cockroaches ; whilst from the time the 
sun went down, there was neither peace nor quiet to be 
had, when sitting up, and endeavouring to read or write, 
from the incessant attacks of mosquitoes, which sang 
their shrill, small, war-notes in my ears without a mo- 
ment's respite, inflicting punctures on the back of my 
hands, the instant I relaxed in my efforts to drive them 
away. From these, to me, far the most annoying of all 
insect tormentors, I could defend myself during the 
night, by retiring into my fortress of muslin, as Saad 
and myself contrived to suspend mosquito-curtains very 
cleverly over the bedding beneath, by means of strings 
made fast to nails driven , into the walls of the room, and 
tied to the window-bars ; but this was no barrier to the 
other insect annoyances, with the exception of the cock- 
roaches, which it effectually kept out, as also a gigantic 
species of mouse, which replaces in Egypt the common 
European kind : it is almost the size of a small rat, the 
body very long, and the ears extremely large and 
round. 

Besides these sources of discomfort, I was awakened 
every morning at dawn by the discharge of a brass field- 
piece, announcing to every true believer in the Prophet, 
that the hour had arrived for abstaining from meat and 
drink till sun-set ; a most severe trial for mortal to en- 
dure, in so warm a climate and hot a season as this long 
and principal Mohamedan fast happens to fall upon, in 
the present year. I may here remark, that from about 
mid-night, to the time of gun-fire at two hours before 
sun-rise ( the duration of morning twilight in this lati- 



228 



LETTERS OF 



tude), during Ramadan, persons perambulate the cities 
of Egypt beating a diminutive drum, as an exhortation 
to the faithful to make the most of the remaining time 
allowed for breaking the previous days' fast, "to eat, 
drink, and be merry" whilst they may, as if persons re- 
quired to be reminded of their dinner or supper, by beat 
of drum, instead of that unfailing prompter, a good 
appetite. 

There are no ruins, or objects of interest at Damietta, 
which was once the emporium of Egypt, and was cele- 
brated in the days of the crusaders : it has been also 
distinguished for its manufacture of dimity, which de- 
rived its name from this city Damyat, converted by the 
Italians into Damietta. 

The day after arriving at Damietta, I started with 
Saad on an excursion to the Lake Menzaleh, and the 
remains of the ancient Zoan, once the capital of the 
Pharaohs, and where the wonders of the Almighty, 
wrought by the hand of Moses and Aaron, were dis- 
played before the stubborn monarch who "would not 
let Israel go." Through the kindness of the consul or 
his Cancelliere, a boat was engaged for me at twelve 
piastres, about 2s. 3d. per diem, and the former, oblig- 
ingly sent his horse to carry me from Damietta to the 
borders of the Lake, where the boat awaited my arrival, 
with my travelling equipage of tent, pots and kettles, 
&c. &c. Neither M. Serure nor his worthy locum 
tenens M. Filliponi, couid have had the slightest idea of 
the condition of the boat they had engaged for my trip ; 
it proved to be a vessel employed to carry salt fish from 
the village of Ma tare eh ( which subsists on, and by 
curing, the finny inhabitants of Lake Menzaleh) to 
Damietta. The bottom and sides of the boat were ab- 
solutely saturated with brine, holding as much animal 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 


229 


matter in solution as it could take up, and this impure 
salt, attracting moisture from the atmosphere, kept the 
boat constantly damp, especially at night, when a heavy 
dew fell, at which time the effluvium was so acrid, and so 
intolerably offensive, that I began to fear it might in- 
duce an attack of ophthalmia, a disease of extreme 
frequency in Lower Egypt, and to which travellers are 
peculiarly liable, from the united effects of the sun, and 
of the damp and coldness of the air at night, to all which 
exciting causes, (in addition to the irritating agency of 
putrid salt fish, the odour of which was at times so 
strong, as to induce slight nausea, and prevent me from 
occupying the floor of the boat), I was incessantly ex- 
posed by turns for several days. 

The first night we made fast to the shore at Matareeh, 
a wretched little village with a squalid population, as 
filthy and miserable as the hovels they inhabit : the 
place, as Sir G. Wilkinson remarks, is "all fish." Here 
we were detained amongst a fleet of dirty fishing boats 
by an accident which kept us at Matareeh the greater 
part of the following day. In hoisting up the yard of 
the enormous lateen sail, which is spread along a spar 
of 45 or 50 feet in length, the head of the mast bearing 
the tackle for raising it, the yard, in its descent, struck the 
reis of the boat, a powerful athletic Arab, violently on 
the back of the neck, and across the shoulders, so as to 
render him for some time nearly insensible. On his 
being carried ashore, I visited him, and finding him in 
great pain from severe contusions, I recommended him 
to be immediately bled, to which, not only the patient 
himself (who began to cry at the idea) but those around 
him, men and women, strongly objected, alleging as a 
reason, that his blood was " good, " that is, in a healthy 
state, and did not require to be abstracted, but on my 





230 


LETTERS OF 




urging the operation, they so far submitted as to send 
for the barber, the person so called in the East is what 
the same class of men used to be in England, a practi- 
tioner in Surgery), but as this worthy on his arrival, to 
my great surprise, joined the ranks of the objectors, I 
found myself left in a minority so extreme, that I con- 
sidered it most prudent to give up the point, lest, should 
the case take an unfavourable turn, I might be held to 
be the cause of his becoming worse, or it might be, of 
his death. So I left the matter in the hands of the bar- 
ber, to be dealt with as he, and the crowd of friends 
around the injured man, might think proper ; and quit- 
ted in disgust the patient's bed side, upon hearing the 
prescription unanimously adopted as the best that could 
be devised to obviate the ill effects of congestion — 
namely, the administration, internally, of a pint or more 
of melted butter, or rancid grease, for such is the so- 
called butter of this country ! Calling however, the 
next morning, and finding the patient to my surprise, 
actually better, and both he and his friends perfectly 
satisfied of the efficacy of so oleaginous a mode of treat- 
ing contusions, and having repaired our mast, we left 
the ill-favoured, and ill-savoured Matareeh, ( so unlike 
its pretty horticultural name-sake at Heliopolis), for the 
Moez canal, on the way to San. This practice of adminis- 
tering oily substances for internal contusions appears 
clearly to be alluded to in Hotspur's relation of his inter- 
view with the foppish lord, who tells him that "the 
sovereign'st thing on earth, was spermaceti for an inward 
bruise." 

Lake Menzaleh is the largest and easternmost of a 
series of shallow lagoons, that interpose so many sheets 
of brackish water between the salt billows of the Me- 
diterranean, and the sweet but vapid currents that now 
from the main branches of the Nile into the various 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. -No. 22. 


231 


channels natural and artificial, that intersect the Delta. 
That this, and probably the other lakes, Mareotis, 
Bourlos, &c. were once inhabited plains, their extreme 
shallowness, and the remains of buildings still visible 
beneath their waters sufficiently attest. They probably 
owe their formation to the gradual elevation of the bed 
of the Nile, which the present depression of the bases 
of the ancient Nilometer at Cairo, and Elephantine, 
and the partial submersion of the two colossal statues 
at Thebes during the inundation, abundantly prove to 
have taken place. The effect of this gradual rise in the 
bed of the river, would be to cover more or less com- 
pletely, and permanently, the lower levels of the country 
it flowed through. The greatest depression of the land 
of Egypt is in the alluvial plain of the Delta along the 
sea-board ; and it is exactly there, that we find those 
accumulations of water which may be compared to the 
puddles formed by the stagnation of a streamlet that 
has found its level, and can flow no further. Accumu- 
lations of sand and soil, the former from the Mediter- 
ranean, the latter from vegetable and alluvial deposits, 
form narrow isthmui, which shoot in various directions 
into these lakes, and on the northern, or sea side, 
effectually prevent the water they contain from mingling 
with the waves of the Mediterranean to any great 
extent. The entire soil however, not only around these 
lakes, but throughout the Delta, and in various parts of 
Lower and Upper Egypt, is strongly impregnated with 
salt (common salt, and the nitrates of lime and potash), 
and in some districts is covered with a snow white 
efflorescence of sub-carbonate of soda, as at the Natron 
Lakes. 

lhe water used tor irrigating the rice nelus, contains 
sometimes so much salt as to destroy the crop, or make 





232 



LETTERS OF 



the plants very unhealthy, and stunted, as I remarked 
around Damietta, and at El Esbeh, where whole fields 
of rice were destroyed by the influx of salt water into 
that from the Nile or its branches,, employed in irrigating 
them. 

The boat entered the canal of Moez the same after- 
noon, when, we reached a spot where it seemed suddenly 
to terminate, and the further progress of the boat to be 
interrupted. Here we found a small house, and several 
people, from whom after some difficulty, we procured a 
couple of donkeys for Saad and myself, without saddles 
or bridles, and accompanied by two guides, we set off, 
late in the day for San, and the interesting remains of 
the ancient Zoan, not far from the modern village, which 
has thence derived its Arabic name. 

Our road, or rather track, lay across the " fields of 
Zoan," once, no doubt, a fertile plain, now, a salt desert, 
the nitrous soil of which, where not absolutely bare, 
nourishes only maritime plants, ( Salsolas, Salicornias) 
.and a few stunted tamarisks. Huts and miserable 
hamlets, are seen dotting its dark and dreary expanse : 
these, with some patches of cultivation on its outskirts, 
are the only visible signs of population, though traversed 
by the canal of Moez, a noble work of modern Egyptian 
enterprise, but with the history of which, I am not at 
present well acquainted. Sir G. Wilkinson says that 
in summer and autumn, this plain is the seat of malig- 
nant fever, and the abode of venomous reptiles. There 
are several other canals, as those of Mahmoudieh, and 
Menzaleh, connecting different branches of the Nile, 
but this of Moez, was by far the widest of any I had 
seen, although, it appears to me, abandoned for all 
purposes of traffic above the point where we landed ; 
from whence to the ruins of Zoan is a good two hours 



I 

W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 


233 


ride on donkey-back, and about half an hour more to 
the modern San, which it is scarcely necessary to say, 
is as vile a hole, as any place of human habitation can 
be rendered. The approach to the ruins is indicated by 
lofty mounds of broken brick, and the usual coarse red 
pottery so abundant on the site of similar ancient cities, 
and which exactly resembles the earthernware of which 
our ordinary garden pots are made. From the top of 
these mounds, there is a very extensive, though not 
picturesque view over the " fields of Zoan," the Lake 
Menzaleh, and other parts of the Delta, a treeless 
waste of saline plain, and dull salt marsh ; bounded by 
the sea, and the rich fertile lands watered by the 
Damietta branch of the Nile, which I had so lately 
passed through. The ruins of Zoan lie (for there is 
not a stone left standing ) 3 not far from the foot of some 
hills ; they extend, according to Sir Ci. Wilkinson, for 
above a mile in the direction of San ; consisting of 
blocks of granite with hieroglyphics, prostrate statues, 
and obelisks, all more or less buried in the soil, which is 
here more sandy, and less saline, than at the Lake end 
of the "field." The obelisks are unusually numerous, 
and are said by the same writer, I think, to be as many 
as twelve or fourteen ; a greater number, than is to be 
found in any other Egyptian group of ruins. I observed 
on my way to San, protruding from amidst the mounds, 
masses of brick work like those to be met with at 
Memphis; remains, unquestionably, of those ancient 
structures which existed before u Jire icas set in Zoan" % 
and " the counsel of the wise counsellor of Pharaoh became 
brutish."] The present aspect of the fields of Zoan is 
just that of a spot on which heavy judgements have 

* Ezekiel xxx. 14. f Isaiah xix. 11. 





234 


LETTERS OF 




been executed; for no one can for a moment imagine 
that in the desolate and blighted plain we now see, the 
proud and rebellious oppressor of the Israelites would 
long have fixed his court, and have raised structures, of 
whose magnificence we have such palpable proof existing. 
In a kind of pit or excavation, I found a very perfect 
statue : from the features, probably that of a Pharaonic 
king. 

It was some time after dusk that we regained the 
boats, when a violent altercation arising between the 
Arabs about the question as to who was the person 
legally entitled to receive the money for the hire of the 
donkeys, some attempt was made to detain me, by 
seizing the turban of the reis as a pledge, and by 
endeavouring to prevent our casting loose from the 
bank to return to the lake. As this was a case in which 
it was out of my power to arbitrate, and it being at the 
same time expedient to return to Damietta, I forthwith 
issued a proclamation prohibiting any person from coming 
on board for the purpose of hindering our departure, on 
pain of being fired upon ; which soon had the effect 
desired, of getting the turban of our reis restored to 
him, and ourselves under weigh for the Lake Menzaleh, 
on which we continued beating up for Damietta against 
contrary winds, for two days; nauseated, and half 
poisoned by the exhalations of stale salt fish, which as 
I have stated rendered it impossible to make the bottom 
of the boat my resting place by night ; so I was fain to wrap 
myself up in a thick pilot-cloth great coat, and spread my 
mattrass on a kind of little deck at the foot of the mast, 
bidding defiance to the dews, and (if any such existed ? ) 
to the malaria of night; preferring to risk the more remote 
chance of an attack of ague, rather than the being stifled 
with the reeking remains of Matareeh's staple production. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 22. 


235 


The scenery of Lake Menzaleh is extremely mono- 
tonous and uninteresting ; the water is so shallow, that 
our boat was ever getting aground, or entangled amongst 
the beds of seaweed. The lake is full of small islands, 
and narrow tongues of land, covered with grass, salt 
marsh plants, and a few stunted tamarisks. On one of 
these small islands, the name of which has at this 
moment escaped me, are numerous Roman remains of 
baths, grottos, tombs &c. but the wind was so adverse, 
that I was told it would require at least a whole day 
longer to be spent on the lake, in order to visit the 
island, on which account, I gave up all thoughts of 
doing so. The water of this lake is beautifully clear, 
and abounding with fish, as the shores and islands do 
with water fowl of all kinds. Pelicans are numerous, 
and are to be seen tame on board the fishing boats, and 
swimming in the water at the villages like ducks. 

When at Matareeh, I paid a visit to Menzaleh, a 
place of some size at the eastern end of the canal, 
connecting it with Mansoureh; the country around 
Menzaleh is extremely pretty, but the place at certain 
times of the year is unhealthy. I searched as far as I 
could the banks of the canal at Menzaleh for the 
Papyrus, which is reported to linger still in that locality : 
but could not perceive a trace of it. 

* -* * # 

Give my kindest regards to all our friends 

Believing me, always, 
Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 

Knowing your fondness for relics, T struck off pieces of brick from 
the mounds of Zoan, which are perhaps as old as the days of Moses, 
and made by the children of Israel. 





236 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter XXIII.) 



Jaffa, August, 1851. 

My dear E 

Knowing my wish to leave Damietta as quickly as 
possible for Syria, Signor Filliponi agreed with the 
captain of a boat lying ready to sail for Jaffa with a 
cargo of rice, the staple of this part of Egypt, to take 
myself and Saad as passengers for 116 piastres (too 
much by a great deal however), to that port. The 
bargain was struck, and the money paid immediately 
after my return from Lake Menzaleh, July 18th. But 
alas ! two great obstacles stood in the way of our speedy 
escape from my dilapidated quarters at Damietta : 
namely, Ramadan, and the Bougaz; the latter, the 
more annoying and provoking of the two, from its 
perpetual disappointment of my hopes day after day, 
and from its being an unexpected impediment. Its very 
existence was to me unknown, until my arrival at 
Damietta brought me acquainted with this capricious 
and most vexatious hindrance to our egress from the 
land of Ham, and arrival in the regions of Shem: a 
transit which I was of course extremely anxious to 
accomplish after so much loss of time. 

The Damietta mouth of the Nile is greatly contracted 
at its point of embouchure w T ith the Mediterranean, by 
a narrow sandy strip of land on either side, and a small 
island; the centre alone of the channel being always 



W. A. BR OMFIJELD. — No. 23. 


237 


covered with water ; but even in this part, so great is the 
deposit of mud and sand by the Nile, that the water 
when the river is in flood, or at the height of the 
inundation, is scarcely above three feet deep on the bar 
known as the Bougaz, — an Arabic corruption, I suspect 
of the Italian boccas, applied to the mouths or narrow 
passes between rocks at the entrance of so many rivers 
or lakes, as that in the Gulf of Paria at Trinidad, well 
known to English sailors as the Bocusses. Certain 
favourable combinations of wind and tide, are indis- 
pensable for enabling even the flat bottomed craft of the 
country, to pass over the Bougaz, and this necessary 
union of circumstances is commonly of very transient 
duration ; and if the lucky moment is not taken ad- 
vantage of, the Bougaz is closed, as it is termed, for 
perhaps that day, a week, or even longer, during which 
time vessels even of the lightest burden, can neither go 
out nor come in. At low Nile, and for many weeks 
before and afterwards, there is not water enough on the 
bar for boats to pass in any weather, and the foreign 
trade of Damietta is totally suspended. During the 
rest of the year, that is to say, whilst the Nile is rising 
as at present, and especially at the period of high Nile, 
which happens about the middle of September, and for 
a certain term during its subsidence, the Bougaz has 
sufficient depth of water on it to allow of vessels passing 
over the bar : but, even then, only under a delicately ba- 
lanced combination of circumstances, can a passage be 
accomplished with safety. First, the wind must be favour- 
able both in its direction, and degree of force ; for if at all 
exceeding a moderate breeze in strength, it raises a surf 
over the bar which causes the bottoms of vessels to beat 
violently against the sand beneath, in passing through a 
body of water at all times but little exceeding in depth 





238 



LETTERS OF 



that required for the draught of very shallow built 
boats. If the wind be, as is often the case, due north, 
then it is more than a match for the current of the Nile 
flowing sea-wards, and of course vessels cannot be 
carried over the Bougaz, by the stream in opposition to 
the breeze ; besides, the surf raised by the mutual 
contention of the wind and water, would itself oppose 
an insuperable obstacle to the passage at such moments. 
However calm it may be, or however favourable the 
wind on the inner, or land side of the Bougaz, a heavy 
swell existing in the sea without, effectually bars all 
egress while it lasts, which may be for many days 
together. It so happens, that throughout June, July, 
and a great part of August, the breeze blows strongly 
from N.N.E. to N.N.W. (usually with the westerly 
tendency), with the force and regularity of a trade wind, 
imparting a delightful freshness to the whole coast line 
of Egypt, and even to the valley of the Nile consider- 
ably above Cairo. This wind commonly falls to a calm, 
or lulls very considerably at least, before sun-rise, and 
for a few hours afterwards ; freshening gradually as the 
day advances, and sometimes falling again at night. It 
is chiefly during the morning that the passage of the 
Bougaz is attempted; the wind being in general too strong 
for the remainder of the day, and the lull at night 
cannot be taken advantage of, as it is then too dark to 
venture amongst the surf, of which there is always 
more than is wished for at the best of times. 

You will thus be better able to understand the reason 
of the continual disappointment and deferred hope of 
getting away from a most disagreeable situation, which 
awaited me from the 22nd of July to the 5th of the 
present month (August). 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 23. 


239 


During the few remaining days of the Ramadan* 
which ended on the 26th y the reis pretended that there 
was no practicable Bougaz, although the weather ap- 
peared most propitious for passing the barrier, and his 
boat lying at the quay of Damietta, had taken in her 
cargo of rice, and was ready to join the larger vessel (a 
brig) at anchor outside the Bougaz, in which we were 
to sail for Jaffa. The truth was, as Signor Filliponi told 
me, the reis had no mind to stir till after the festival 
following on Ramadan, at which all good Mussulmen 
are anxious to be present. 

On the 27th the reis announced that the weather 
being favourable, he intended starting for the Bougaz, 
(about six or eight miles below the city) at day-break 
next morning, and I congratulated myself on the 
prospect of being delivered from the united attacks of 
mosquitoes and all other insects in my forlorn and 
ruinous apartment in Damietta. 

Well, the next morning at sun-rise, away we went, 
floating gaily down the stream in company with several 
other vessels, and my disasters seemed in a fair Avay of 
ending in a propitious and rapid passage to Jaffa ; but 
upon nearing the Bougaz, the whole merchant fleet made 
fast to the shore, and on enquiry, I found that there was 
not water enough on the bar for vessels to pass, and in 
short, that there was no Bougaz. After waiting a little 
while, we all made sail, and put back, not to Damietta, 
but to a miserable village, a mile or two above the bar, 
called El Esbeh, where is a quarantine, and a large 
Turkish fort. On landing the chief of the Lazaretto 
asked me the ominous question in Italian, whether I 
wished to sleep there : I supposed at first, he only meant 
taking a siesta, but he soon undeceived me by telling 
me that there was no chance of a Bougaz that day, and 





240 


LETTERS OF 




that perhaps I might have to remain at El Esbeh two, 
three, four days, even a week, or more; so, accepting 
his offer to house me in the interval, in preference to 
lying in an open boat every night amongst rice bags and 
dirty Arabs, he shewed me into a solitary square 
building, having no second story, and which appeared 
not to have been opened for a length of time. There 
was no furniture, only a framework of wooden panels 
about three feet high, like a shop's counter, all round 
the room, called a divan, or deewarij on which cushions 
are put for people to sit, smoke, or sleep upon ; but the 
cushions were taken away, and it seemed to me probable, 
that the house had been deserted, as too damp and un- 
wholesome to be dwelt in ; for the floor, which as usual 
was only the bare ground, was absolutely saturated with 
moisture, the house standing almost at the water's edge 
of the now fast rising Nile, and the whole vicinity being 
a marsh, half salt, and half fresh, and with stagnant 
rice fields at the very door. Visions of rheumatism, if 
not of ague, and the still worse form of intermittent 
fever, rose immediately before my ej^es on opening the 
door: however there was no help for it, so we got our 
things in, and spreading our mattrasses on the divan, 
eschewed as much as possible all contact with the floor ; 
but even the woodwork on which we sat and slept, was 
by no means dry in every part. Here we were obliged 
to stop four entire days, the wind blowing far too 
strongly, and the sea outside being much too high to 
make the Bougaz practicable. 

I really believe that had we remained in this place 
much longer, both Saad and myself would have fallen 
ill. I became quite fretful at the delay, and loss of 
time, and could not bring myself to read, write, or do 
anything, but wander about in the marshes looking for 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 23. 


241 


plants, of which however, I found very few that were 
new to me. The vegetation is extremely monotonous, 
and, though abundant, is composed of but few species, 
and those of a singularly northern type : our Hampshire 
coast-wise marsh-lands are infinitely richer, and exhibit 
much more blossom. The absence of what dabblers in 
botany are wont to call "wild flowers," is a marked 
character in Egyptian vegetation from Damietta to 
Assouan : its Flora is eminently what these fastidious 
dilettanti call a weedy." However, I got one or two 
curious little things here, and at Damietta, and gathered 
in plenty both the white and blue water lilies of the 
Nile ( Nyrnphaea Lotus, and N. coerulea), the former is 
in no respect superior to our own white water lily, ( N. 
alba) in size or beauty, and indeed I think it is rather 
inferior in these respects ; the latter is a more graceful 
and delicate plant, its white petals suffused with a 
charming tint of lovely purplish blue, verging on sky- 
blue, but quite diluted. 

Poor Saad complained of constant head ache, and I 
had the same occasionally, with want of appetite : we had 
nothing indeed eatable in the shape of meat, only lean 
poultry, as usual, with eggs, and a scanty supply of 
milk morning and evening served in the ordinary filthy 
vessels, by filthy hands. This, it is true, I had long been 
used to ; still, loss of appetite is not regained by unclean 
and unsavoury viands. Saad had, of course, no other 
resource when not engaged in my service in cooking &c. 
but to smoke and sleep away the time. However I 
thank God, there were circumstances that made our 
sojourn at El Esbeh both safer, and more tolerable than 
it might have been. First, the wind blew strongly and 
constantly from the west and north west over the river 
and open sea behind the neck of sandy desert that inter- 





Q 



242 


LETTERS OF 




venes between the Nile and the Mediterranean, carrying 
the malaria of the marshes and rice grounds away in- 
land, and keeping up so cool a temperature by day and 
night, that I could scarcely believe myself to be under an 
Egyptian summer sky ; the weather was like that of the 
south of England in August, very cool, breezy, and 
moist, more so than even at Damietta. The cloudy morn- 
ings and evenings, with the now rich sun-sets, and float- 
ing masses of white cloud in the mid-day sky, bring back 
European associations which are quite dispelled by the 
clear pale blue monotony of the Cairene heavens. — Se- 
condly, I had the pleasure whilst at El Esbeh, of enjoying 
the occasional society of M. Arnault, a French engineer, 
in the service of the government, a person full of infor- 
mation and very obliging. He lived on board a very 
pretty , and comfortably fitted up boat, in which he visits 
professionally the various forts and harbours between 
Damietta and Alexandria, mooring his floating habita- 
tion to the shore during the day. He had been at the 
head of an expedition sent by government up the White 
Nile, and into Abyssinia as far as the fourth degree of 
latitude or twelve to the southward of Khartoun, our 
own Point Turnagain, last spring. He told me that 
when Louis IX of France, was confined a prisoner at 
Damietta at the time of the last crusade, the present 
bed of Lake Menzaleh was a cultivated plain with towns 
and villages, the remains of which are still to be seen 
beneath its shallow waters. He further informed me 
that the intermittent fever was frequent at El Esbeh, 
but was of a mild type, and usually gave way to one or 
two doses of quinine, and removal to a purer air ; but that 
at Damietta the same species of fever assumed a severer, 
and even a malignant form, so that 1 may think myselt 
and Saad fortunate in having escaped without an attack 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 23. 


243 


during our continual exposure in open boats to damp 
and night air at Matereeh, on the Lake Menzaleh, and 
canal of Moez, as well as in our damp quarters at El 
Esbeh. 

On the morning of the 1st or 2nd of this month 
(August) I forget which, the rets of the Bougaz an- 
nounced that the bar would be passable, and all the 
vessels lying at El Esbeh got under weigh as quickly as 
possible, and we were soon at the edge of the fitful and 
capricious barrier ; but only to experience another dis- 
appointment, as the wind freshened too much on our 
arriving, to let us assay the passage, so we all made sail 
back again to El Esbeh, with the disagreeable prospect 
of being detained perhaps a week longer. 

I now began seriously to think of returning to Dam- 
ietta and of taking camels at San, and proceeding by 
way of the desert to Jerusalem ; but reflecting, that I 
had paid my passage money to Jaffa, and that the 
chances were about equal of our being released, or not, 
from Egyptian bondage every day ; besides which it 
would take me at least twelve days to accomplish my 
other plan ; — I resolved to await with patience the open- 
ing of the Bougaz, not in our former damp and unhealthy 
abode on shore, but on board the small boat in which we 
proceeded down the river, and into which of course our 
luggage, and travelling culinary apparatus, stock of pro- 
visions &c. had been carried, and which it was very 
troublesome to move in and out, besides the risk of 
breakage, and other mishaps. So I ordered Saad to 
spread our rugs and mattresses in the pits or cavities 
between the rice bags, where we contrived to nestle in 
tolerable comfort, though in a somewhat cramped position 
from the narrowness of the space, and the strange con- 
cavities to which it was necessary to mould the bedding. 





244 


LETTERS OF 




In this way, well wrapped up, and in onr clothes, which 
we never took off while at El Esbeh, we slept pretty com- 
fortably every night, under the open sky, in spite of the 
dew, and happily, undisturbed by mosquitoes, which the 
brisk wind from the river kept, together with the mal- 
aria, at a respectful distance. The rice bags we lay 
amongst on board the boat were clean ; the only nuisance 
was the close proximity of other boats, the dirty Arabs, 
and squalid wretchedness on shore, to which we were 
closely moored. In this state we remained till the morn- 
ing of the 5th) when the reis of the Bougaz again 
marshalled the boats, and we dropped down once more to 
our former position, mooring to the sand bank in a man- 
ner to me very ominous of our return to El Esbeh, for 
the third time ; but in the present case, there was not 
wind enough to carry us over the bar, which obliged us 
to wait till it freshened sufficiently, and an anxious 
time it was to me. However, about noon we made sail, 
and the reis of the Bougaz, leading the way, conveyed us 
in gallant style, with about a dozen other vessels, over 
the vexatious impediment, and we reached the brig in 
safety that was lying in readiness to take us to Syria, 
most thankful and happy to escape at last from damp, 
dirt, bad air, and vermin : of the last however we had not 
much cause to complain, as neither the boat nor the brig 
were over-run with the usual insect tormentors, and were 
for Arab craft, in very fair condition as to cleanliness. 

About 2 p. m. our brig got her anchor up, and we 
were on our way to Jaffa. Soon the palm trees of the 
Delta sunk beneath the horizon, and I took my farewell 
of the land of Egypt, right glad to have traversed that 
wondrous and mystic land from its extremest limits 
north and south : but quite satisfied to have finished an 
undertaking which I have no desire to renew. Egypt is 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 23. 


245 


well worth seeing once, and once only. I have spent 
many delightful hours and days on her classical soil, and 
under her ever-shining sun ; but there is a vast deal it is 
painful to contemplate in her, and disagreeable to 
encounter. 

We soon discovered that our bark was a dreadfully dull 
sailor, besides that she was deeply laden with rice ; and 
the wind that during our imprisonment had blown from 
the very best quarter for wafting us to Jaffa, began to 
fail us, and it was not till mid-day on the 8th that we 
accomplished a voyage which under ordinary favourable 
circumstances, requires only from 24 to 30 hours. 

I occupied the long boat on deck, in the bottom of 
which was spread my mattrass, on which I sat and took 
my meals, read &c, having the cloth of the tent spread 
across the boat at night. 

There were three or four passengers who slept about 
the deck at night with the crew, and amongst them was 
a poor Hungarian, driven from his country by the late 
disturbances, and roaming about the world in search of 
employment. He is going up to Jerusalem on foot, and 
from thence thinks of proceeding to Damascus, where I 
find it quite true that General Guyon is residing, as I 
was told in England. The Hungarian speaks his own 
language badly, as he does German, and a little English, 
and is my daily guest at dinner, for the poor man is ab- 
solutely penniless, the Arabs having some time since 
stolen his little kit, and what money he had in it. I in- 
tend giving him what cash I can spare to carry him on 
his way through Syria ; but my long detention in Egypt 
has increased my expenses, and nearly exhausted the stock 
of provisions laid in at Cairo, so that I must buy many 
things afresh that should have lasted till I got to Beyrout. 

From your always affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 





246 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter XXIV.) 

Jaffa, Syria, August 10th, 1851, 
(Quarantine ground.) 



Dear E 



Here I am at last in another quarter of the globe, 
in Palestine, and at ancient Joppa, the scene of Saint 
Peter's vision, and of the raising of Tabitha from the dead 
by the same apostle. I arrived here two days ago ( the 
8th ) having been cast about by sea and land, sleeping 
in all sorts of odd places, and amongst all sorts of odd 
people, since I left Damietta ; and I am at this moment 
undergoing a five days incarceration in this establish- 
ment, for no other crime than coming from Egypt, 
which by quarantine wiseacres is supposed to be always 
infected with plague, and therefore unworthy or inca- 
pable of furnishing a clean bill to those who quit its 
shores for the no less plague-stricken Syria or Turkey. 
Right glad and thankful am I to find myself safely 
landed on the shores of Asia, for Egypt was to me (ever 
since I reached Damietta on the 16th of last month), a 
house of bondage. There was no getting away out of 
the land, till my release came on the 5th instant, when 
I may be said to have escaped from Egypt, rather than 
to have quitted it ; so full of annoyance and discomfort 
was that unlooked for detention. 

We are in tolerably fair quarters here in the Laza- 
retto, with the prospect of being let out to-morrow 
evening, or at all events early on the day after. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 24. 


247 


12th. We were liberated from our imprisonment in 
the Lazaretto, at sun-rise on the 5th day after entering 
it, having only passed three entire days within its walls. 
On quitting it, they had the effrontery to demand of 
me 95 piastres!!! — as payment for attendance and a 
private room apart from the poorer passengers, which 
they dignified with the laughable epithet of una bella 
stanza, for Italian is current all over the Levant at 
public offices, in commercial establishments &c. I was 
resolved not to pay this exorbitant tax for imprisonment 
on mere suspicion of the possibility of having the plague, 
till I had talked with the English consul, Dr. Kyat, who 
immediately cut down the demand to 70 piastres, which 
he advised me to pay ; as, however unjust it was to re- 
quire any money from the incarcerated of a Lazaretto, 
the officials were empowered by their corrupt govern- 
ment, to rob to that extent the helpless inmates. My 
" bella stanza " was a fair-sized dirty room, without the 
smallest article of furniture ; one of a dilapidated set of 
wretched apartments that in winter, or in wet weather, 
must be almost enough to make one commit suicide, but 
having often before been far worse lodged, I felt con- 
tented, and passed the time away very tolerably in 
reading and writing ; Saad, in smoking and sleeping, he 
having no other resources. The person employed at the 
Lazaretto to collect and fumigate the passports of the 
imprisoned, managed to lose mine, which, was, as you 
know a foreign office passport, good for the owner's life- 
time, and costing more than a common one ; I was much 
annoyed, as such a passport, with its various Arab seals 
and signatures, would have been an interesting docu- 
ment for preservation. I have yet some hope of 
recovering it ; for, if the man finds it stuffed away in 
some corner &c. which is not improbable, Dr. Kyat has 





248 


LETTERS OF 




kindly promised to forward it to me at Beyrout. This 
gentleman was exceedingly hospitable and attentive to 
me during my short stay at Jaffa, giving me and Saad 
the use of his house. Dr. Kyat is a Syrian by birth 
( from Damascus I think ), but has passed several years 
in England ; he speaks our language well, and is bring- 
ing up a young family of four or five children quite in 
the English way, having an English lady in the house, 
as governess. Besides being a chief merchant in Jaffa, 
Dr. Kyat exercises the profession of medicine privately, 
and without emolument, amongst both Arabs and Euro- 
peans. Mrs. Kyat is an Armenian, and speaks a little 
English. Dr. Kyat kindly took me to the reputed abode 
of Simon the tanner, in whose house is by the sea side " 
Saint Peter was lodged when he saw the vision, and re- 
ceived the summons to visit Cornelius. The Moslems 
as well as the Christians venerate the spot ; and the for- 
mer have raised a mosque on the supposed identical site 
of Simon's dwelling. It is quite in the town of modern 
Joppa ( Jaffa being I understand an easy derivative in 
Arabic from Joppa ), at the top of a high bank above 
the shore ; and besides that tradition is unanimous in 
fixing the habitation of Simon on this particular spot, 
what tends to confirm its truth is, that the spot possesses 
an abundant supply of good water, necessary in the 
tanner's business for steeping the hides ; and it is further 
remarkable that on the same premises, is a stone cistern 
of very great antiquity, still used for holding water, and 
which has apertures in its sides for drawing off the 
water when required. This cistern, it is not improbable 
was used by Simon as a tan-pit for steeping the hides in 
the liquor or tanning infusion, whatever that might have 
oeen m inuet; ctniy uctjo, wntm uiuitiuvci coiciuiiisiiiiiciiLb 
of this description, were no doubt, as they still usually 



W. A, BR OM FIELD. — No. 24. 


249 


are in the East, conducted on a scale of very moderate 
magnitude, compared with works of a like kind in 
Europe. Possibly, some part of the house itself may 
be as ancient as the days of St. Peter, as it has an air 
of great antiquity. I mounted to the house top, which 
is flat, as when the apostle went upon it to pray. 

Jaffa is rather small, but a very compact, and closely 
built town, occupying the sides and summit of a hill 
immediately rising from the sea shore ; it has no sub- 
urbs to speak of, and is surrounded by a wall and ditch, 
with a single gate for entrance on the land side, viewed 
from which in one direction it somewhat resembles Ryde, 
as seen on approaching it from St. John's. The coun- 
try around is for the most part flat, desert, and very 
sandy ; but for a mile or more inland, and behind the 
city, it is one vast garden of the richest verdure, and 
most exuberant productiveness. The grapes, pome- 
granates, and water-melons of J affa, are all first of their 
kind for size and flavour ; such grapes, and so cheap, I 
never saw before ; they rival those of our hot-houses, and 
for a piastre, you may have three or four pounds of the 
choicest black or white. They may be eaten with im- 
punity in any quantity, as may also water-melons, of 
which last, I make nothing of eating one as large as my 
head at any time. Dr. Kyat took me to a villa of his 
about two miles from the town : he has planted the 
grounds with mulberry-trees for silk- worms (of which he 
rears great numbers ), and with fine sea-island cotton 
from seed procured from the United States ; it remains 
to be seen whether this celebrated cotton will continue 
to produce an equally long staple in the East, as in its 
very limited district on the sea-board of Carolina and 
Georgia. Our road lay through an Eden of fruit-trees, 
oranges, lemon, citron, mulberry, pomegranate, peach, 





250 


LETTERS OF 




apricot, fig, and even apple and pear-trees ; but these 
two last succeed but indifferently in this low latitude and 
level. Date-trees already have become fewer than in 
Lower Egypt, and are much less productive. Our ride 
through dusty lanes in the mid-day sun, between high 
hedges of Cactus, was broiling, but the town of Jaffa is 
itself extremely cool ; the serenity of the sky begins here 
to be disturbed by floating clouds, and the aspect of the 
heavens to assume more of the changeful character of the 
European firmament. A scarcely perceptible spitting of 
rain, or what we should rather call heat drops, occurred 
the second day of my sojourn at Jaffa ; I have seen no 
rain excepting this, and a slight drizzle for a few minutes 
at Cairo last November, for these ten months, yet I am 
not the least weary of the perpetually clear weather ; the 
earth however, it must be confessed, would be much im- 
proved in aspect by a few heavy showers, as grasses, and 
most other herbaceous plants are quite withered up. 
Since the abolition of the corn-laws, and the introduction 
of the free-trade system in England, the trade of Jaffa 
has increased immensely, and many English vessels were 
lying in the road- stead, waiting for cargoes, chiefly of 
grain, wheat, barley, and round dhourah ( Sorghum 
vulgare ) which last is beginning to be imported in 
great quantity into England for thickening soups, and 
mixing with wheat flour for bread. Dr. Kyat also sends 
considerable quantities of Sessama seed (Sessamum 
orientale ) to the seed crushers at Hull in Yorkshire, 
who are beginning to appreciate the value of the oil these 
seeds contain, so long known and estimated in the East, 
and of which vast quantities are grown in Syria and 

Egypt. It is excellent both for lamps and culinary use. 

* * * * 

TVitli V>p«st t*p era yd si fn nil nny fyipnds 

I f J.L11 UCOt IC^UjIUO \j\J ail V^lAl IX IVyllVIO, 

Always your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Bromfield. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 25. 



251 



(Letter XXV.) 



Jerusalem, August 15th, 1851, 



My Dear E- 



X reached the city of David yesterday at sun-set, 
after a journey of fourteen hours from Jaffa, which I 
left the day before (13th) at 2 p.m. sleeping the same 
night in the Latin Convent at Ramlah, the ancient 
Arimathea, and resuming my journey at half-past seven 
o'clock the next morning. I found the conventual 
accommodations, afforded gratis by the holy fathers of 
Ramlah to all travellers to and from Jerusalem, ex- 
cellent; a roomy cell, beautifully clean, and freshly 
whitewashed, containing a table, four chairs, a brass 
lamp with four wicks, and two beds with snow-white 
linen, and mosquito curtains, bason, ewer, and towel. 
One of the brethren brought me for supper, a bason of 
broth thickened with vermicelli, bread, boiled meat, and 
a decanter of very strong wine of the country. The 
distance from Jaffa to Jerusalem is only thirty-two 
miles ; the road is, and has been for a great length of 
time, quite free from robbers; so that people travel 
alone without the least fear, and never think of having 
an escort, or obtaining a sheik's protection. The cause 
of the length of time occupied in traversing so short a 
distance, is the execrable nature of the road, if such it 
may be called, between Ramlah and Jerusalem. 



252 


LETTERS OF 




I am now in most comfortable quarters in Jerusalem 
in the house of Mrs. Simeon, to whom I was recom- 
mended by Lieut. Pengelly. I have delivered my 
letters of introduction to Bishop Gobat, and the Eev. 
J. Nicolayson. I am going out in a day or two to visit 
them and the consul J. Finn, Esq. at their camps about 
half an hours walk from the city, for both the Bishop 
and Consul live like the patriarchs of old, in tents all 
the summer, only coming into the city for a few hours 
every morning to transact business. The new English 
church here far excels every other ecclesiastical building 
in Jerusalem, in real beauty and elegance, though much 
behind them in barbaric pomp and splendour. 

I propose going to the Dead Sea, and the Jordan, of 
which I had a fine view on the 15 th from the summit of 
the Mount of Olives, — to Hebron, and Bethlehem, and 
thence through Samaria and Galilee to Damascus where 
I intend introducing myself to General Guyon, now a 
Pasha at Damascus, whose mother and brother I know 
so well — thence to Beyrout over the Lebanon, taking 
the ruins of Baalbec on my way. Dismissing Saad at 
Beyrout, I take the first steamer for Smyrna and Con- 
stantinople ; at which last place, I shall have five days 
quarantine to perform again. I shall try my utmost to 
leave Constantinople by the Southampton steamer 
on the 29th September, so as to be at home by the 
middle of October ; but such is the slowness, difficulty, 
and uncertainty of travelling in this country, that I 
cannot venture to say by what steamer I can return, 
with any degree of confidence. I have however some 
idea of remaining here till the 5th, and of proceeding 
to Beyrout by sea in the steamer which comes back to 
J affix on the 7 th from Alexandria, and which will touch 
at Acre and other places along the coast of Syria, 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 25. 



253 



affording a good view of that part of the country. Then 
I hope to go from Beyrout to Damascus over the Le- 
banon, returning to Beyrout en route for Constantinople; 
the reason for this is, that the country between Jeru- 
salem and Damascus, is not in a very quiet state just 
now, though better than it was a few weeks back, when 
several robberies of travellers occurred. In the mean 
time, however, I shall go to the Dead Sea, and the 
Jordan, to Hebron, and I think also northwards as far 
as Nablous the ancient Samaria. 

I went yesterday (August 18th) to Bethlehem; the 
day was broiling, but the good monks of the convent of 
the church of the Nativity, gave us refreshment on our 
arrival. The screen in this church, separating the Latin 
from the Greek and Armenian portions of it, is, for taste, 
design, and execution, one of the most beautiful spe- 
cimens of carving in wood I ever saw; almost every 
thing else in the church is as usual, gaudy and paltry in 
the extreme. 

% ^ % 

I only add my kind love : 

Your affectionate Brother, 
William Arnold Bromfield. 



254 



LETTERS OF 



(Letter XXVI.) 



BEYROUT, September 22nd, 1851. 



My dear E- 



I arrived at tliis place on the 19^ in eleven days 
from Jerusalem, which I quitted on the evening of the 
8 th; I visited Nablous, the ancient Shechem, and 
Sychar ; Sebastieh, the ancient Sebaste or Samaria of 
Scripture ; Nazareth, where I stayed two days and a half 
— during which time I went to Mount Tabor; — Mount 
Carmel ; and so I came on by the sea coast through 
Acre, Tyre, and Sidon, to this place. 

The day after to-morrow (24th) we have arranged to 
set out for Damascus, The journey will occupy us 
three days in going, and three or perhaps four days in 
returning. 

I intend remaining at Damascus only to see the an- 
tiquities there, and on my return to rest quietly at 
Beyrout till the 14th of October, when the Austrian 
Lloyds steamer leaves for Smyrna and Constantinople, 
touching at Cyprus, where she remains a day, Scan- 
deroun and Rhodes, where she also stops for twenty- 
four or thirty-six hours : but unfortunately passengers 
from Beyrout are not permitted to land, on account of 
the absurd quarantine, although they may do so on 
coming to Beyrout from Constantinople ; as though the 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. — No. 26. 



255 



latter place were less subject to plague than the Syrian 
capital. If however I find that I can quit Smyrna in 
a very few days after performing quarantine there, I 
shall be tempted to remain a short time in a place so 
highly spoken of for the beauty of its situation and 
neighbourhood ; but if on enquiry I find that no steamer 
will leave it in a reasonable time for Constantinople, I 
shall go directly thither, and the moment I can fix the 
day for quitting the latter place, I will let you know. 

I am busy with the arrangements for our journey to 
Damascus and Baalbec, which will conclude my Syrian 
travels ; after which every successive day will bring me 
nearer to dear old England. 

I have had quite as much as I wish of Eastern travel, 
enough to furnish many pleasing reminiscences of past 
events, and of distant scenery ; but I am not sorry that 
my long pilgrimage is drawing to a close, and that, with 
God's will, I shall soon return to enjoy the blessings 
and comforts of " home, sweet home." 

The weather here is extremely sultry : the fine, cool, 
dry breezes of Egypt, and of the hill country of Syria 
and Palestine, are here exchanged for humid sea-winds, 
which, not allowing the pores to act freely, impart a 
feeling of much higher temperature than really prevails; 
the thermometer not being above 80° — 84°. The nights 
too are hot, and the sky often overcast, and much less 
clear and serene than in the interior. Yesterday, the 
high peaks of Lebanon, towering aloft behind Beyrout 
in an awfully grand manner, were shrouded in thick 
clouds, which seemed ready to descend over the town 
in a deluge of rain ; but these are menaces, which are 
here rarely or never carried into execution between 
April and December, a season seldom refreshed by even 
a passing shower ; but the dews, the natural moisture 



256 


LETTERS OF 




of the air, and numerous springs, keep Beyrout pretty 
verdant even at this time of the year ; and no place in 
Syria, excepting perhaps Damascus, abounds more with 
gardens and orchards than this. For some miles before 
reaching the town, our road lay through grounds in the 
highest state of cultivation. 

I am acquainted with no one here ; our Consul being 
still in the mountains, as is the British Chaplain, and 
almost every other functionary who can escape from the 
sultry atmosphere of this coast. 

* * # # 

Believe me ever, 

My dear E., 

Your affectionate Brother, 

William Arnold Beompield. 



IF. A. BROMFIELD. 


257 


THE preceding Letters have been revised by a much 
loved friend of the writer } the Rev. Gerard Smith, who 
has simply omitted the few words and sentences, which he 
deemed unsuitable except for the eye of the near relative 
to whom they were addressed. 

The Notes and Memoranda appended, were made by the 
way, and are given as they were found in Dr. Bromfield^s 
portfolio. 





R 



258 


JOURNAL OF 




JOUENAL, 

Excursion from Jerusalem to Jericho 

and the Dead Sea : (from Notes.) 

August 30th. Start for Jericho, Jordan, and the 
Dead Sea, as late as 2 p.m. (not having been very well 
for some days past ) accompanied by Mr. Simeon's ser- 
vant ( Saad being ill, ) a muleteer, and four armed men. 
The Hill country of Judea on the eastern slope has less 
vegetation than on the western ascent. Fine view of 
Jerusalem from the vicinity of Bethany, as also of the 
Dead Sea— Extroardinarily wild character of the scenery, 
and change of temperature, the latter, most sudden and 
perceptible on approaching Jericho, when the desert 
becomes excessively precipitous, and the scenery awfully 
grand. Cross the brook or rivulet of Ain Sultana* and 
pass by some ruined arches of Saracenic work, said by 
Arab tradition to be the remains of ancient sugar-works, 
but it being dark at the time, I could only dimly discern 
these, and the surrounding scenery, which appeared to 
be covered with a good deal of thicket, and tolerably 
sized trees, amongst which we wended our way in the 
obscurity to Riah, supposed to occupy the site, or nearly 
so, of Jericho, and now, only a collection of miserable 
huts, near which, and a half dried up brook, full of vo- 
ciferous frogs, and close to a square building called the 
citadel, I pitched my tent for the night. Temperature 
about 9 p.m. in the tent, 85°. 

Disturbed all night by troops of dogs prowling, growl- 
ing, and barking around the tent, by my Arab escort's 


* Generally believed to be the waters which were healed, or made 
sweet by Elisha. II. Kings — chap. 2 v. 19 — 22. 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. 


259 


chattering, the noise of the villagers, and the heat. On 
our arrival, some of the inhabitants of Jericho collected 
about us ; but we were soon left ( as far at least as they 
were concerned ), to rest our wearied limbs in peace. 

Rose at four next morning, August 3ls£, as the first 
faint dawn brought out the mountain summits of 
Gilead, Amnion, and Moab in strong relief against the 
eastern sky ; and before sun-rise, we were again on the 
move across the plain of Jericho towards the Jordan, a 
ride of about two hours — Fine view of the Quarantana, 
the alleged " exceeding high mountain " the scene of 
our Saviour's final temptation in the wilderness — Plain 
of the Jordan, its shrubs and white saline efflorescence 
on the soil — The J ordan, its whiteness, and rapidity- — 
beautiful belt of wood along its banks — temperature of 
the stream at 7 a.m. in a part of the bank shaded by 
trees, 87° ! ! — Probable scene of the parting of Jordan, 
by the mantle of Elijah and Elisha, and the translation 
of the former in a chariot of fire. 

Leave bank of the Jordan for the Dead Sea, to 
which a ride of about an hour brought us — Extreme 
grandeur of the scenery, exceeding far the idea I had 
previously formed of it — Beautiful blue of the Dead Sea, 
and extreme clearness of its waters, their intolerably ac- 
rimonious scalding bitterness. — Great quantity of drift 
wood on its shores, brought down by the river Jordan, 
Arnon, and other rivers from the mountains.— A small 
flock of aquatic birds flew over, and settled down on 
its placid bosorn in my sight. — The ground about the 
lake not devoid of vegetation by any means. 

Breakfast under a rough structure close to the edge of 
the lake, formed of a few large branches of drift timber, 
over which we spread one of our horse cloths to exclude 
the sun in some decree overhead — Extreme heat under 

o 





260 


JOURNAL OF 




this partial shelter, 92° at 9 a.m. with a gentle breeze. 
Atmosphere filled with a soft blueish white haze, which 
obscured the view of very distant objects, whilst the air 
and mountains seemed glowing like a furnace as in the 
deserts of Ethiopia, and the valley of Upper Egypt. — 
Meet no man, either Arab or traveller — Horror enter- 
tained by the latter of a visit to the Dead Sea at this 
season of the year, some even deeming it full of peril to life 
from the heat : — I, however, found it not only quite tol- 
erable, but far from unpleasant, on account of the fine 
breeze from the water and adjoining mountain ranges. 

After breakfast, and a short stroll along the beach, 
which is composed of small pebbles and sand, I prepared 
for my ascent to the convent of Mar Saba, distant seven 
hours from the Dead Sea, and from Jerusalem. 

The ascent to Mar Saba is by a gorge in the moun- 
tains Engedi (still called by a name nearly exactly similar 
by the Arabs of the present day), and which were the scene 
of David's wanderings to escape the persecution of Saul ; 
and in Solomon's time celebrated for their vineyards, and 
apocryphal " clusters of camphire ! " Cant. i. 14. The 
plain between the Dead Sea and the foot of the limestone 
mountains here about a mile and a half, or at most two 
miles broad, is covered with a luxuriant growth of reeds 
( Arundo Donax ) Tamarisk, Orache, (Atriplex Halimus) 
and a gigantic shrubby species of Salicornia apparently, 
with cylindrical fleshy leaves, and very thick woody stems. 
Here, strange to say, from the saline ground issues a 
spring of fine sweet water, at which my thirsty Arab 
escorts loitered to drink : the spring is quite overgrown 
and concealed by a thicket of tall reeds and other 
grasses. A fine breeze from the lake and mountains felt 
quite cool, and tempered the now fierce heat of the pro- 
found and vast cauldron whose sides we were about to 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. 


261 


ascend, and which is said to be the most depressed spot 
on the earth's natural surface, although the measure- 
ments given differ too widely amongst themselves to be 
deserving of much confidence. 

The road from the Dead Sea to Mar Saba, and on- 
ward to Jerusalem, is much less steep and rugged than 
that from Jericho and the Jordan to the same city, and has 
the advantage of affording, in addition to its own stu- 
pendous scenery, the most magnificent views imaginable 
of that mysterious lake which with its clear expanse 
of tranquil but ponderous water lies far beneath in its 
rocky recess, like a vast polished mirror of crystal in a 
dark frame. Even from the breezy summit of Engedi, 
the opposite mountains of Moab still tower above the 
observer ; and from the hill of Zion itself present the 
aspect of a vast perpendicular wall, close at hand, and 
shutting out the world to the south-east, though many 
hours of toilsome journey must be performed e're they 
can be even approached by the width of the still inter- 
vening Asphaltic lake. The heat was extremely great 
as we wended our devious way along the deep valley or 
defile between the lofty mountains on either side of the 
rugged path, which, composed of white limestone, much 
resembling indurated chalk, reflected the sun's rays with 
dazzling effect ; and, the vegetation consisting merely of 
small thinly scattered shrubs, and the burnt up remains 
of the spring plants, without a single tree, of course 
shade and shelter from the scorching sun could in no 
place be found ; but occasionally our route lay over the 
summits of these lofty eminences, when we were sure to 
enjoy a cooler temperature, the ventilation of a pure 
mountain breeze, and a view of surpassing magnificence. 
We passed one or two Arab encampments of dark horse 
hair tents, and several springs and wells of fine water, at 





262 


JOURNAL OF 




which we refreshed ourselves, and our heated beasts. 
Small fields and patches of cultivation are seen occa- 
sionally in the valleys, but the general character of the 
scenery is that of wild nature, stern, and at a distance 
bare, although not really so, and far indeed from the 
barren solitude of the Ethiopian desert scenery. There 
is a sameness in even the sublimity of the hill country 
of Judea, that wearies by the endless succession of 
mount and vale, and we hailed with pleasure the inter- 
ruption of this monotony of grandeur, in the deep chasm 
disclosing the now dry bed of the brook Kedron : and 
skirting the margin of which, the welcome vicinity of 
Mar Saba was announced in the deep tones of the con- 
vent clock. A few minutes afterwards I found my- 
self comfortably reclining on the divans of the clean and 
spacious apartment which the hospitable fathers have 
always ready swept and garnished for any pilgrim who 
may arrive duly recommended, by a letter from the 
Greek convent at Jerusalem, to their good offices ; and 
with such I came provided. 

I will not here give a detailed description of the Mar 
Saba, because, if I recollect right, a full account, and 
faithful sketch of this convent is to be found in the 
C( Christian Researches in Palestine," not to mention 
other works on the Holy Land. It is most romantically 
nestled in a niche of the ravine overhanging the brook 
Kedron, and is so substantially built, as to have almost 
as much the air of a fortress as of a convent. The few 
monks who came forth from their cells seemed very aged 
men. Mar (St.) Saba, seems to have been a saint of the 
middle ages. The fare set before me was fruit, and a 
sort of aniseed cordial. 



W. A. BROMFIELD. 


263 


Excursion to Hebron. 

September 2nd. Started from Jerusalem for Hebron 
attended by a guide and Saad, no escort being needed 
for this now peaceable and frequented neighbourhood. 

Plain and valley of Rephaim, and picturesque appear- 
ance of Bethlehem from the fine convent of Mar Elyas 
just above the valley of Eephaim ; but the view of Je- 
rusalem from this or the Bethlehem road is the least 
striking of any, the finest being decidedly those in 
coming from the Dead Sea via Mar Saba, that from the 
Mount of Olives, and from Bethany.— -Singular and in- 
teresting peak called the Frank mountain, the truncated 
summit of which is hollowed like the crater of a volcano : 
it is said to be the ancient Herodium. 

Passing Rachel's Tomb, we were agreeably surprised 
at finding it open ! and within the very sanctuary itself, 
a number of Jews assembled, who to the amount of 
about a dozen were seated at the foot of the well facing 
the tomb, repeating, or rather gabbling with extraor- 
dinary volubility in a chanting or measured tone of voice, 
and slight inclination of the head from side to side, the 
psalms of David from printed Hebrew books. We were 
permitted by the Moslem guardians of the building to 
enter without the slightest opposition, and seated our- 
selves beside the devotees, who continued their singular 
service without regarding our intrusion. We were the 
more surprised at gaining an entry, since we believed 
( as it is generally stated in books of travel), that the 
Tomb of Rachel, like the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, 
and the sepulchre of Abraham at Hebron, is zealously 
closed against Jews and Christians at all times without 
exception. 





264 


JOURNAL OF 




Pools of Solomon — about an hour's ride beyond Beth- 
lehem; — their great size, and depth, and good preser- 
vation of the masonry. 

Wretched road — softer character of the country — 
between Bethlehem and Hebron, the rounded hills 
thickly clothed with shrubs, chiefly dwarf prickly oak 
Quercus gramuntia, Arbutus (Andrachne?) Pistacia 
terebinthus, Khus ? — Indications of paving along the 
road in some places ; and on nearing Hebron, the way 
goes over what would appear to have been the ancient 
high road from Jerusalem to that city, having unmis- 
takeable evidence of pavement, now in a very rough and 
broken condition for a mile or more from Hebron, form- 
ing a deep road winding between walls, and vineyards 
of great luxuriance. — Enter Hebron long after dark. — 
Put up at the house of a Jew who usually receives 
strangers, called Ephraim Levi. — Strange approach to 
the houses, and extreme slipperiness of the pavements. 

Our host a good Hebrew scholar — Wine of Hebron, 
a rich, sweet, full bodied beverage, very palatable, but 
probably not wholesome. 

September 3rd. Walked out before breakfast to the 
Oak of Mamre, about a mile and a half from Hebron. — 
Fine view of Hebron from the ascent in that direction. 
— Its most ancient scripture name of Kirjath Arba, sig- 
nifying four cities, is perfectly applicable to the modern 
town, which seems to consist when viewed from an 
eminence of four distinct villages, each, a strange laby- 
rinth of gloomy abodes, stone houses, with flat or domed 
roofs ; most of the rooms, as at Jaffa and Jerusalem, 
being covered in with massive arched masonry, and 
scarcely any timber employed in their construction, 
which is a great preservative against fire. 



W. A. BROMFIELD. 


265 


Oak of Mamre — Objections to its identity with 
Abraham's tree, which is said to have been a turpentine 
tree (Pistacia Terebinthus)— Locality denied by the Jews 
— Loss of one of the largest limbs of this tree by the 
accumulation of snow upon it in the severe winter of 
1850, when the fall was knee deep in the streets of Je- 
rusalem — High cultivation about Hebron, rich vineyards, 
and olive gardens — Hebron's great antiquity — Built 
seven years before Zoan in Egypt. 

Am Sarah (Sarah's fountain) is a spring by the road- 
side, a short distance from Hebron — Pools of Hebron — 
Site of the murder of Ishbosheth; and punishment of 
the murderer by David. 

Character of the Hebronites, its boldness, turbulence, 
lawlessness, and independent love of liberty. The present 
governor, almost an absolute ruler, and by all accounts 
extremely difficult to deal with. Handsome features are 
remarkably prevalent amongst the inhabitants ; the 
women, many of them fair with blue eyes. On our way 
through the maze of steep, slippery passages, leading 
from our lodgings into the main street, we passed 
through a small court full of these blonde daughters of 
Hebron, some of whom were extremely pretty. The 
men too, are fine tall fellows, with intelligent counte- 
nances, and by no means forbidding in their aspect. 

Glass works at Hebron — their antiquity — but the 
manufacture tasteless and inferior : the principal is that 
of glass lamps for mosques, many of which are exported 
to Egypt. The furnaces are on a small scale, and ex- 
tremely rude in their construction — We returned to 
Jerusalem barely in time to pass the Jaffa gate, which 
is kept open somewhat later than the other city gates, 
or till nearly half an hour after sun-set. 





266 



JOURNAL OF 



Journey from Jerusalem to Beyrout. 

September $th, 1851. 

Left Jerusalem at about 4 p.m. for Nablous, the 
ancient Neapolis, Sychar, or Sichem — Beautiful parting 
view of J erusalem, after gaining the hill-top beyond the 
Damascus gate — Encamp for the night at Beereh after 
passing several villages, one of which is called Eamah. 
Tomb of the prophet Samuel at Ramoth — Stony nature 
of our camping ground, and extreme hardness of our 
couches. 

September 9th. General character of the country be- 
tween Jerusalem and Nablous — chalky nature of the 
soil — Want of trees, the great defect. Arrive at Nab- 
lous after dark — Extreme beauty of its situation in a 
valley between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, the 
mounts of blessing and cursing &c. 

Jotham's parable delivered from Mount Gerizim — 
Full moon, its fine effect on Mount Ebal — Great num- 
ber of jackdaws, hooting owls and jackals. 

September 10th. Visit the town of Nablous — extreme 
solidity of the masonry of the vaulted houses, and long 
arched passages. Visit the Bishop of Jerusalem's school, 
but few scholars there, it being the anniversary of the 
beheading of St. John the Baptist. 

Community of Samaritans at Nablous, between forty 
and fifty heads of families. Visit to their place of wor- 
ship: — Ancient copy of the Pentateuch in Samaritan 
characters. 

Search for Jacob's well, the scene of our Saviour's 
conversation with the woman of Samaria- — unsatisfactory 
results of our enquiry. Joseph's Sepulchre — its condition 
— Hebrew inscriptions on the wall within. 



W. A. BROMFIELD. 


267 


Leave Nablous for Sebaste (now Sebasta) the ancient 
Samaria, distant about two hours, at 12 noon — Accom- 
pany a party of Arab travellers nearly to Sebasta — 
General character of Samaritan scenery — Extremely 
chalky nature of the soil — Fine situation of Sebasta on 
a hill — ancient church — finely chiselled ornaments in the 
dome — Rows of columns a little way out of the village, 
the remains of the fine structures with which Herod 
adorned Samaria. 

Leave Sebasta for Jebba about two hours and a half 
distant— Encamp in an olive grove for the night — hard 
bed, and disturbed slumbers — Dead horses close to the 
village — Fine and pleasing features of the Syrians of 
Palestine — Armed peasants. 

September Will. Start at half past seven a.m. on our 
way to Nazareth, said to be by numerous enquiries along 
the road four, five, six, seven hours distant, we found it 
ten ! ! Fine undulating hills, but general want of wood 
(olives excepted). Gennin — bad character of the place 
— a few date palms here, bearing fruit — Enter the plain 
of Esdraelon — its deceptive extent — Ascent of the 
mountains to Nazareth, where we arrived about six 
o'clock— Lofty situation of the place above the plain of 
Esdraelon — Latin convent — excellent accommodations 
at — Pleasing appearance of Nazareth on approach. 

Church of Annunciation on the spot where that event 
is reported to have taken place — Miraculously supported 
pillar — House of Joseph asserted here to have been car- 
ried by angels to Loretto — Grotto behind the church, said 
to have been occupied by a female friend of Joseph and 
Mary, and who took care of their house during their seven 
years absence in Egypt to escape the persecution of 
Herod — Workshop of Joseph — Fountain of the 'Virgin 
Mary — the approach to this spring was probably often 





268 


JOURNAL OF 




trodden by the feet of our Saviour — Nazarene girls fill- 
ing their pitchers : — fairness and beauty of countenance 
observable amongst them — Filth of the place — carcasses 
of horses &c. lying about — Evidences of the earthquake 
which shook Palestine a few years back to its centre, in 
the cracked walls of many houses in Nazareth — Turkish 
family, hareem, &c. of an officer of rank, Mustapha 
Bey, in the Latin convent. 

September 12th. Excursion to Mount Tabor — leave 
Nazareth at 12 noon, and arrive at the summit of the 
mountain in two hours and a half — Description of the 
Mount, which tradition asserts to have been that of the 
Transfiguration — Beautiful arborescent vegetation on its 
northern declivity, principally oaks, Carob, Storax, 
(Styrax officinalis) Turpentine and Mastic trees. Ancient 
building on the summit, strongly fortified, and defended^ 
against the Roman army under Vespasian, by therms- 
torian Josephus — Magnificent view from the summit 
over the surrounding country — the plain ojf Esdraelon — 
the valley of the Jordan — Sea of Tiberias/or of Galilee — 
the mountains of Israel beyond Jordan — Bason, Endor, 
and Nain — hazy state of the atmosphere — delightful 
temperature on the Mount, and at Nazareth, to which 
place we returned, to our hospitable quarters in the 
Latin convent, and to a late dinner — slight T^eportj^ 
robbers in a road at the foot of the Mount. — Return by 
a village under the hills, and by an excessively steep and 
slippery descent. 

September 13th. Leave Nazareth for Mount Carmel 
— Finely wooded hills of moderate height, and rounded 
outlines — Trees principally oaks of fair size as on Mount 
Tabor (the principal species being one with a leaf some- 
what resembling that of the beech, and with acorns in a 
deep cup covered with curved scales), the other trees 



W. A. BR OMFIELD. 



269 



being generally Lentils and Carobs with large bushes of 
Storax as undergrowth. Pass two farms where men were 
winnowing corn by throwing it up in the wind with a 
kind of wooden fork — Pass a well at sun-set with Syrian 
maidens drawing water, profusion of hair on the fore- 
head — Syrian agriculture — Sessame, cotton, small breed 
of horned cattle, goats, sheep rare — difficulty of procur- 
ing milk in Syria and in Palestine — its indifferent quality 
at Jerusalem. 

Cross the brook Kishon, " that ancient river, the river 
Kishon " before coming to Caiffa ; pass through and 
ascend Mount Carmel, which we reached about 8 p.m. 



Mount Carmel near St. John d'Acre, Latin Convent, 

September 15th, 1851. 



I am now arrived at another resting place, perched on 
the summit of that hill, the scene of more than one event 
in the life of Elijah, in quarters noted amongst all 
travellers for their comforts, and commanding one of the 
finest sea views perhaps in the world. I intend trespass- 
ing no longer on the hospitality of the worthy Carmelite 
brethren than to day, hoping to start very early to-morrow 
before day break ) for Acre and Tyre : the next day, for 
Saida (Sidon); and on the following, I trust, if it please 
God, to arrive at Beyrout with no greater let or hinder- 
ance than I have yet experienced since I entered Syria. 

Fra Carolo, the superior, his affability to travellers, 
and literary acquirements — his zeal in raising funds for 
the church, a handsome structure, the design by a lately 
deceased brother, who also superintended the execution : 
— Convent library. 



270 


JOURNAL OF 




Splendid view from the summit of Carmel, which 
however is a hill of moderate elevation — Semicircular 
plain at the foot of the Mount, on which are visible the 
ruins of ancient Porphyrion, so called from its fishery of 
the Tyrian Purple — Kaiffa — Acre — Capo Bianco to the 
northward, and to the south, Castel Pelegrina jutting into 
the sea — Elijah's Grotto, as usual, made into a chapel. 

Mount Caraiel is a range of hills, rather than one 
mountain. Probably more wooded, and with trees of a 
larger growth formerly than at present : still the forest 
of Carmel may be said to exist in our day. 

September 16th. Leave Mount Carmel to pursue my 
route northwards — Pass through Caiffa a second time, 
by day-light, a place of some little trade. Noble olives 
on the descent to Caiffa — coast road to Acre — Fine ride 
of four hours along the sands to that place — Delightful 
sea breeze. 

Acre, a vile hole (notwithstanding its rather impos- 
ing aspect on approach) — good bazaars — sickly appear- 
ance of the population, and their forbidding features. 
Unable to see much of the place — Set off with a guide 
for Bassa near the foot of Capo Bianco, and arrive at 
the camping ground after dark, by a spring of water, 
and some swampy spots, adjoining fruit gardens — Ruined 
arch, and fine aqueduct a little way out of Acre, the 
latter an ancient work. 

September 11th. Start at 8 a.m. for Tyre — Rugged 
ascent to Capo Bianco' — Perfectly chalky nature of the 
rock in many places. Temperate weather — Peasantry 
not armed with guns as in the south, the sale of powder 
and shot being prohibited in this part of Syria by the 
local government — Solomon's mills, Ras el Ain ( said 
to be fed by Artesian wells ) their evident antiquity — 
Enormous Nebr tree ( Zizyphus Spina Christ! ). 



W. A. BROMFIELD. 



271 



Arrive at Tyre (Arab Sur) about 2 p.m. — size and 
trade of the town. — Few remains of the ancient city — 
consist chiefly of columns lying about in various parts. 
Encroachments of the sea as evidenced by fragments of 
an ancient wall, now many yards from the shore. — 
Wanton destruction by the Turkish government of the 
remains of a fine Christian church, to serve for building 
materials at Beyrout. Less clear atmosphere on the sea 
coast than inland. 

September \8th. Leave Tyre at 10 a.m. for Sidon: 
arrive shortly after sun-set, or in about eight hours and 
a half. Graceful mode of salutation of the peasantry in 
this and other parts of Syria, by laying the hand on the 
forehead, and then on the heart. "Mahaleh" ( Anglic e, 
" How are you ? "), replaces here the tt Solamum Aleikon" 
of Egypt. Country between Tyre and Sidon. High 
mountains of Gebil el Skeyk in the distance — Wells, 
fountains, and streams, frequent in Syria — Large herds of 
goats — Syrian Shepherds — wild Oleander. Fine situ- 
ation of Sidon compared with Tyre, approach to Sidon 
between fine gardens of fig, orange, lemon, mulberry, 
pomegranate, &c. as at Jaffa, and rows of most magni- 
ficent tamarisks, not so much remarkable for their 
height, as for their girth and picturesque forms — 
French Khan— and so-called hotel of Madame Angelina. 

Madame Angelina — her unangelic age and appear- 
ance — Excellent harbour of Sidon, but small trade of 
the town, consisting chiefly in the exportation of 
tobacco, and other products of the country — Excellent 
fruit of Sidon — Fine Curana trees. 

September 19th. Leave Sidon at a quarter past 
eight a.m. for Beyrout — Fine appearance of Sidon from 
the shore — very warm day — road bad in places. 



272 


JOURNAL OF W. A. BROMFIELD. 




Arrive at Beyrout at half past seven p.m. somewhat 
fatigued by a long ride of eleven hours, in a very sultry 
day — Magnificent scenery of the Lebanon on the right, 
with its villages thickly scattered over the mountain 
sides, and fairly cultivated plains ; the road amidst fruit 
gardens and mulberry plantations, for some miles 
before arriving at the town. 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 


273 


EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS 

OF THE 

KEY. JAMES BAKNETT, 

AND OF 

ME. GEORGE MOORE. 

From the date of the last Note, we have no clue to 
the movements of the writer, excepting through the 
letters of the Rev. J. Barnett and Dr. Paulding of the 
United Irish and American Presbyterian Mission at 
Damascus, (extracts from which are given), by which it 
appears that he left Beyrout on September 28th, sleep- 
ing that night at Zahleh, and arriving the next day at 
Baalbec, ill through long fasting; his servant having 
omitted to make the requisite provision for the journey. 
The following night he was seized with diarrhoea : from 
which he suffered without intermission until he reached, 
on the 1st October, the house of the Rev. J. L. Porter 
at Bludan, the summer station of the Mission, where 
he was assiduously attended by Dr. Paulding. 

Efforts were made to dissuade one so unfit to travel, 
from proceeding to Damascus ; but the combined illness 
of Mr. and Mrs. Porter, and probably the restlessness 
induced by fever, determined him to press on to that city. 

The journey seems to have greatly increased the 
malady, and his recovery became humanly speaking, 
hopeless. 

On reaching the Hotel de Palmire, his symptoms 
were rapidly aggravated, and assumed the form of 
malignant Typhus : while the sufferer was watched day 
and night during the brief remainder of his life, with 
the kindest christian care, by the Rev. James Barnett, 
and by Mr. George Moore, an English traveller, who, 
under most trying circumstances, volunteered his help 
to a fellow countryman. 





? 



274 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF 



Damascus, 

November 2nd, 1851. 

Dear Madam, 

You will have learned ere this note reaches yon, 
by a letter from Mr. George Moore, who was in Da- 
mascus at the time, that one who was very dear to you 
has gone the way of all the earth. Your brother died 
in this city on the 9th of October, at three o'clock in 
the morning. He had been ill for some time, and was 
labouring under a severe disorder. My brother-in-law, 
Dr. Paulding, had seen him at the summer residence of 
this Mission * between Damascus and Baalbec, and had 
advised him not to hazard himself in his feeble state in 
this city. But having slightly recruited, he was anxious 
to complete his travels by a short visit here, and to be 
ready on his return to Beyrout to sail for home at the 
earliest date. He had a special desire to see Count Guyon 
the Hungarian General, who is a guest of the Sultan, 
at Damascus ; but, by the time the Count called to see 
him, which he did promptly after his arrival, your 
brother was too far gone to recognize him. He had the 
attention of a good physician from the day he came to 
Damascus until his death : but with the utmost care 
and skill, all efforts for his recovery failed. He died 
very calmly, without a struggle, worn out by the 
exhausting influence of the disease. 



* The Presbyterian Mission (of the American Board) at Damascus. 



REV. JAMES BARNETT. 



275 



I cannot close this letter without expressing my hope, 
that your brother is at rest amongst the blest, and that 
this dispensation of Providence may be sanctified to all 
related to him, and to all who have had any connexion 
with him in life and at his death. 

I would commend the special attention shewn to him 
by Mr. Moore. 

I am, dear Madam, 

Truly yours, 

James Barkett. 



Damascus, 

March 26th } 1852. 

Dear Madam, 

Although your brother was very far gone when I 
first saw him, being much reduced by his disease 
(diarrhoea), and the fatigue of the previous day's ride, 
he truly impressed me most favourably by his amiable 
character, and won my deepest esteem and tenderest 
sympathy in his last illness and death. And be assured 
it gives me great pleasure to receive what you have 
related to me respecting him, and to find that I was not 
mistaken in what he appeared to be upon so short an 
acquaintance, and under circumstances so unfavourable. 
For, in general, a sick bed is I tliink, of all places the 
worst for one who wishes to deceive as to his real 
disposition. 



276 


EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF 




The least attention paid to your brother was sure to 
draw from his lips the kindest expressions of gratitude, 
and when he ceased to speak, he would still by his 
smile manifest the grateful feelings of his heart, so that 
it was a real pleasure to shew him the least kindness. 

Your brother arrived here on the 5th of October, 
late in the evening. I did not hear of his arrival until 
the next morning. He had that day travelled the 
whole way from Bludan, a small village on the side of 
the mountain east of Zebdany, and about half way 
between this place and Baalbec. He had left Bludan 
the same morning, and came by the way of Fyeh (a 
village midway between this and Bludan), where he 
could not have rested long, if at all, as he arrived here 
the same evening. Fyeh is at the second head of the 
Baroda, where almost the half of the river gushes out 
from beneath the mountain. The place is destitute of 
any accommodation for Europeans. 

At Bludan, your brother had stopped at Mr, Porter's : 
Mr. Porter was confined to his bed, and your brother's 
servant was also ill. He thought that by coming on to 
Damascus he should be under more favourable circum- 
stances for the recovery of his health ; and this reason, 
besides his impatience to complete his travels, were 
considerations which doubtless had much influence in 
bringing him, sooner than was prudent, to Damascus. 

Mrs. Porter was struck by the evident kindness of 
his disposition. On some one finding fault with his 
servant for not being more attentive to him, ill as he 
was he took his part and palliated his conduct, saying, 
that the man himself was sick, which was indeed the 
fact ; but when sick ourselves we are too apt to forget 

on/"»n f*r\r\ ai fi ovof i t~\v\ tot nthpvs 



REV. JAMES BARNETT. 



277 



Your brother arrived in Bludan on the 30th of 
September after nightfall. That day he had travelled 
from Baalbec, and was very ill : he attributed his state 
to a stimulating dinner which, after long fasting, he had 
eaten a few days before at Zahleh, on the road from Bey- 
rout, in the mountains at the edge of the Bakka, Caelo 
Syria of the ancients. He was one day and two nights 
at Baalbec. Zahleh is one or two days from Beyrout 
according to the rate at which a person travels and the 
route which he pursues. The above dates take 
Dr. Bromfield back, very nearly, to the time when he 
was to leave Beyrout. Your brother, being informed 
of the uncertainty of his life, expressed his resignation 
to whatever should be the Divine will, and appeared to 
be fully aware that he might not recover He appeared 
to be anxious about some book,* but what was intended 
I do not know : it might be his journal, or some work 
on which he was engaged. 

I am, dear Madam, 

Yours truly, in the bonds of Christ, 

James Baknett. 



* This book was, doubtless, tbe " Flora of the Isle of ^Wight," upon 
which the most energetic study and research had been expended by him 
to the date of his departure from England. 



278 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF 



Hotel Palmire, Damascus, 

10th October, 1851. 

Madam, 

It is with the deepest regret that I have to apprise 
you of the death of your estimable brother, who 
yesterday left us for a better world. 

I myself arrived at Damascus from Jerusalem on 
Monday, and, hearing that an Englishman lay danger- 
ously ill at this hotel, I came and found your brother, 
who had arrived the day before from Baalbec, suffering 
from typhus of the most malignant description. Every 
thing that could be done for him both by medicine and 
attention was effected, and, not being able to obtain 
(through the superstitious fears of the people), any 1 
servant to wait upon him, we attended upon him by 
turns ourselves, and I cannot speak too highly of the 
unremitting kindness and attention shewn him by 
Mr. James Barnett, of the American Mission at Da- 
mascus, a truly pious young man. Three hours before j 
his dissolution, Dr. Bromfield became sensible. Being 
in the room at the time, I spoke some familiar home 
words to him, which recalled him ; and, upon my asking 
him whether he had any wish to express, he desired his 
kindest remembrances to his dear sister, and ordered 
that all his effects should be sent to her. After that, 
he expressed a wish that the Bible should be read to 
him : having one fortunately with me, I complied with 
his request. He then became again insensible, and 
departed about two hours afterwards, with the sweetest 
expression of tranquillity upon his face. 



MR. GEORGE MOORE. 



279 



In twelve hours from this sad event, we buried his 
body in the christian ground outside the city, and the 
utmost respect was shewn by all the Consuls, they 
either attending in person, or sending their cavasse. 
Afterwards, we made an inventory of his effects, and 
sealed his papers and portfolio, and delivered them to 
the Consul to be forwarded to you, 

I have felt it my duty to write, and if Providence 
allows me to return home, which I hope to do by next 
January, I will, with the greatest pleasure come to you, 
should you wish to see me. 

Regretting extremely the melancholy tidings I have 
imparted, 

Believe me, my dear Madam, 

Very respectfully yours, 

George Moore. 

i 



280 



INSCRIPTION, ETC. 



These sad records will be appropriately closed in the 
words of the Eev. Gerard Smith, and by the inscription, 
which he wrote for his friend's tomb in the Christian 
cemetery at Damascus : 

" His body rests in a land rich in the dust of the 
saints of God, whose living followers were found faith- 
ful in the care of the dying stranger, and had their rich 
reward in catching from his lips, and in tracing in his 
last faint and fevered moments, the sure and certain 
hope, — which made them, and bids us also, be of good 
cheer, — that his feet were on the Rock, and that his 
gentle spirit is now in heavenly rest." 



SACRED TO THE MEMORY OE 

WILLIAM ARNOLD BROMFIELD, M.D., F.L.S., 
oe Ryde, in the Isle oe Wight, England, 
a man oe an amiable and excellent spirit, 
detoted to the advancement oe science, 
in unblamable integrity oe liee. 
He died oe eever at Damascus, 
resting in peace and hope 
upon the lord jesus, 
ix. october, mdcccli, 
aged eifty years. 



FINIS. 



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